Headfirst for Halos
by neo-chan
Summary: Gay and proud: that's Yamato Ishida. Flirty by nature: that's his life. Taichi Yagami: that's his best friend. Nothing more, of course the thought makes Yamato laugh hysterically. Then again, there's gotta be a reason why other people like him, right?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: If you're curious, this is AU... as are all of my other fics. 

Currently, the older Digidestined are 16 or 17(depending on their birthdays... Mimi and Koushiro are 16, everyone else is 17) and the younger ones are 15. I've decided what months their birthdays will be in so quite a few of them will have their birthdays during this fic.

I stole Kiseki from Black Rose for part of this chapter! (dances) hehehe... (glomps Tyson) I love him! He gets love!

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Digimon. They made Tai & Yama straight. Those bastards.

**Headfirst for Halos**  
by: nEo-cHaN

Friday May 7th: a normal spring day. The thought of school dampened it a bit, but nevertheless it was a beautiful day. I had just pulled on my grey school pants when the doorbell rang.

"Come in, Tai!" I yelled.

About ten seconds later, Tai walked into my room as I pulled on my white collared shirt. He flashed me a grin.

"Hey."

Tai-Taichi Yagami-is my best friend. We've been best friends for a really long time. I leave my door open in the mornings and he walks over from his apartment to meet me so we can walk to school together. Sometimes he rings the doorbell; sometimes he doesn't. I don't understand the pattern, and I don't even think there is one.

I finished buttoning up my shirt and tossed my sweater at Tai-who instinctively caught it-then grabbed my schoolbag and gestured towards my door. I walked out and Tai followed me to the front door, where I put on my shoes and left the apartment. Tai locked the door behind us with the keys he'd grabbed from my sweater, then shoved them back into the pocket and tossed the sweater to me. I caught it and pulled it on as we began walking down the hall.

That was our weekday morning routine unless one of us couldn't walk to school for some reason; being whether one of us was sick, had to go to school early, or something of that nature. If the case was that one of us was sick, the other would pick up his homework and possibly bring him some chicken noodle soup, hot chocolate, or something of the sort.

These are the things Tai and I take from granted; traditions that have developed over the years. Everyone around us can't say one of our names without saying or thinking of the other. We're inseparable. Our friendship has lasted through every test possible except for just a few; there's one in particular that I can think of which just may become relevant sometime in the future.

"I've got soccer after school," Tai informed me. He's the school soccer star. He's been playing since he was a little kid. Being the athletic hero makes him automatically popular with the girls, and popular in a different way with the jocks and other guys. It also makes him the envy of many. Luckily he's not a braindead sports freak like the rest of the jocks. Well... okay, he is a sports freak. But he definitely can't be classified with the others; unlike them, he has the sense to know that a house on fire is more important than a football game.

...unless, of course, there's no one in the house.

"I've got band practice," I responded. I have a band made up of me and three other guys. We always play at school events-we have been since we got to high school-so we're considered sort of a legend at our school. Our band is called Paradox and I sing lead vocals and play bass guitar.

"Cool. So call me when you get home."

"Don't I always?"

"Yeah, but this time I might have some news for you."

"Oh really? Like what?"

"You'll see." Tai gave me a mysterious look.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"Whatever," Tai mimicked me. He slung an arm around my shoulders. "I know you're dying to know what it is!"

I couldn't help but laugh. It's something about Tai's attitude. He grinned at me and dropped his arm to wave at someone. I looked up to see a friend of ours, Sora Takenouchi, just ahead.

"Hi, you guys!" she greeted us as we reached her.

"Hey Sora," Tai said, and I echoed him. She fell into step with us and we continued down the street.

Sora has barely shoulder-length light orangeish-brown hair and cinnamon-coloured eyes. She's been our friend since we were really little... possibly from the same time Tai and I met each other. We're all really close. Sora used to be more of a tomboy, but she's grown to be a lot more "girly". Especially since meeting Mimi Tachikawa.

Mimi's also our good friend, but we haven't known her for as long. She's the definition of a "girly-girl"- she's really into fashion and "trendiness" and stuff, and her favourite past-time is shopping. She's slowly transforming Sora, and it's actually been pretty successful so far.

Speaking of whom, Mimi was the first person we ran into when we got to school. She's always fluttering from group to group spreading gossip and chatting amongst others, but we're like her home base.

"Guess what I heard!" were her first words when she saw us.

"What?" I asked, humouring her.

"There's a new guy!"

"Aw, you spoiled my news!" Tai exclaimed.

I raised an eyebrow. "**That** was the news I was so 'dying to hear'?"

"How did you know?" Mimi asked him.

"He's gonna be on the soccer team. I heard he's really good." Tai smirked at me. "I also heard he's a ladies' man."

Sora and Mimi laughed, and I gave him a wary look. "Tai... please tell me that you're not trying to fix me up with one of your soccer jocks."

I'm gay. Not bi; gay. Fully and completely, and I admit to it. I'm not going to lie about it- if someone asks me, I'll tell them. So of course, all of my close friends and family have known basically since I knew about it. I was afraid at first that some of them would reject me-especially Tai since he's a guy-but I was wrong. Of course, there are always going to be people against you but at least the people I care about didn't turn on me.

You won't necessarily be able to tell that I'm gay from just observing me. I mean, people are always saying that I do have some feminine traits but I don't act like the stereotypical "gay guy". That's why not too many people know; they don't have any inclination to ask because I don't give them a reason to be suspicious. Obviously my band knows, and whatever fan base we have should know by now. Two of the other band members are bi-one secretly, one openly-and the other is straight. The openly bi one, Shin, is very obvious about his sexuality. Within minutes of meeting him, you'll know he's definitely not straight. Eri, the other bi one, is pretty quiet about things. He doesn't like his sexuality-or anything, for that matter-being exploited. Not many people know much about him. I think he's more gay than bi, because he hasn't been attracted to a girl in a long time, but he hasn't officially declared it yet. And the straight one, Hiro, could never see himself in a relationship with a guy.

So anyway, this is why Tai was telling me about this guy. But, first of all, the guy was a soccer jock. Second, I don't do blind dates. Tai knows this, as do Mimi and Sora-regardless of the countless times they've attempted to play matchmaker.

Tai shrugged sheepishly. "It was worth a try."

"Yeah, Matt," Mimi supported him. "You need to let us set you up with **some**one!"

"There's got to be a guy you have a crush on," Sora added.

"Why me?" I exclaimed. "Tai doesn't have a girlfriend; Mimi, you just dumped your boyfriend; and Sora, you don't have a boyfriend either!"

"Yeah, but it's more fun to set you up because you're gay." Mimi flashed me a smile.

Sometimes I think that my sexuality is a large form of entertainment for my friends. I personally don't see what's so amusing, and I'm not sure I want to.

After assuring them time after time that I wasn't going to let them set me up with the new guy, they dropped the subject. Actually, I'm lying; they only stopped because the bell rang. We have a couple classes together though, so that wouldn't be the last I heard of it.

Koushiro Izumi is also a friend of ours, and he's in my first period class as well as Tai. That class is math and he's really smart, so it's greatly to our advantage.

"Hi, you guys," he greeted us when we walked in.

"Hi, 'Shiro," we replied in unison. He's widely known as Izzy-a nickname I believe one of his computer friends gave him-and only his close friends like us call him other nicknames such as Shiro and Kou.

"Did you do the homework?" Tai asked him.

Izzy nodded. "Of course."

"Can I copy it?"

"That would be plagiarism."

"Kou."

"Alright." Izzy gave Tai his paper. "But hurry!"

Luckily Tai managed to scribble down the answers before the second bell rang. He returned the paper to Izzy, who turned back around in his seat as the teacher began walking down the rows to collect homework. Normally Tai would've copied the homework from me, but I hadn't done it either. So I copied it off of Tai-I'm one of the only people who can read his rushed writing-and we both handed it in to the teacher looking perfectly innocent.

Our teacher, Mr. Fumiaka, began speaking. "Today, class, we're going to be learning about..."

I blanked out at that point, mostly because Tai nudged me. We sit in pairs-I sit with Tai on the far left, second from the back and Izzy sits in front of us with a guy named Satoru. Anyway, Tai leaned in towards me when the teacher turned around to write on the board.

"You wanna go out tonight?" he whispered.

"I thought you had soccer practice," I whispered back.

"I do. But we can meet up after that. When do you think band practice will be over?"

"It depends."

"Well I'm gonna be bored, so we have to do something."

I rolled my eyes. "You're predicting that you'll be bored?"

"Yup. I'm psychic."

A throat cleared and we both turned to see Mr. Fumiaka looking straight at us. We stopped talking and Tai gave him an innocent smile. He turned back to the board.

Tai poked me in the arm. I ignored him and he poked me again.

"What?" I hissed, turning my head towards him.

"What do you wanna do? Go to a movie, just hang out..?"

"I don't know, you pick. You're the bored one."

"I don't care, I just don't want to be bored."

"Then let's just hang out, I guess. I probably won't want to go out again after band practice. And you should be tired... you go straight from P.E. to soccer practice."

I don't know how he does it. He's insane. It's gotta be that hair of his storing extra energy, I'm telling you.

Tai opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted.

"Boys, if you insist on talking then I'll have to send you to the office."

I felt my face heating up. I hate being singled out in class. Unfortunately Tai's always getting me into these situations.

"Sorry, sir," Tai said sheepishly.

Mr. Fumiaka gave us the evil eye for a moment, then continued teaching the lesson. Just seconds later, Tai nudged a piece of paper onto my desk. I looked down at it and recognized his messy scrawl.

'Your place or mine?'

'Mine', I wrote and shoved the paper back to him. It came back shortly.

'Okay. Call me the second you step in your door.'

'Will do. Now stop before you get me in trouble again!'

Tai was sufficiently obedient and well-behaved for the rest of the class. We went our separate ways when first period ended and I headed off to English, where Sora and Jyou would join me.

Jyou Kido is another friend of ours. He's a neat freak, has various allergies, and is relatively paranoid; but once you get past all that, he's a good guy. He and Izzy are at about the same intellectual level, so we can go to either one when we have problems with school.

When I entered the class, everyone was speaking in hushed tones to each other and peering up at the front of the class. I glanced over and saw a guy standing there, speaking to the teacher. As far as I knew, I'd never seen the guy before. With a shrug, I sat down in my seat next to Jyou.

"Matt!" Sora approached me almost immediately. "That's the new guy!" she exclaimed. She lowered her tone a bit and added, "Isn't he gorgeous?"

I looked back at him. He had envy-worthy black hair with bangs to one side and grey eyes. His eyes weren't sharp, but they weren't soft either. They weren't a charcoal grey, or a smoke grey; they were a different grey. In fact, they were the nicest shade I'd ever seen. He didn't even look like the typical jock. If I dare say it, he looked kind of like my type.

"He's cute," I admitted.

The bell rang and everyone scrambled to their seats. Mr. Tanaka stood up and once we'd quieted down, he spoke.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, we have a new student." He turned to the guy. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

The guy shrugged. "Okay. I'm Raian."

That was all he said. Mr. Tanaka prompted him.

"You're going to be on the soccer team, isn't that right?"

Raian nodded. "Yeah."

He said nothing else and I observed him discreetly. Raian didn't seem like the soccer type... he seemed more like the musician type.

I was proven right about the musician part when I got to my third period class-music-and saw him there. He was speaking with our teacher, Ms. Jair.

When Mimi saw me, she nearly pounced on me.

"That's him!" she exclaimed. "Isn't he-"

"Gorgeous?" I rolled my eyes. "I heard it from Sora already. He's in my English class."

"Lucky."

"Who's lucky?" a voice came from behind me. I turned to see one of my bandmates, Eri. His real name is actually Teridenji, but he's gone by Eri for all long as I've known him. His family usually calls him Teri, but around everyone else he's Eri.

"Matt is," Mimi answered. "That new guy is in two of his classes so far!"

Eri nodded. He's sort of quiet compared to the rest of my friends, a bit more subdued. Eri has black hair an inch or so above his shoulders with chin-length bangs on each side of his face and greenish-blue eyes. He's sensitive, generally nice, and is a good listener. When you need to just rant or let something out, he'll listen.

Eri plays the guitar-he plays electric in our band. I can play electric too. He also plays the piano. Mimi plays the flute and piano. The new guy, Raian, played the guitar and he was pretty good at it. He also knew how to play the drums and piano quite well. I was impressed. Maybe setting me up with him wasn't such a bad idea after all... of course, I wasn't about to admit that.

At lunch, everyone was talking about him. I sat with my usual group: Tai, Sora, Mimi, Izzy, Daisuke, and Eri. Hiro, Shin, and Jyou have a different lunch period than us. Daisuke Motomiya is a friend of ours. He's in grade ten, while we're in eleven. Mine and Tai's siblings, Kari(his sister) and TK(my brother) are close with him along with another boy; Ken Ichijouji. Tai is Daisuke's role model, which makes sense; they're alike in a lot of ways. Daisuke is in Tai's second period class because he's taking a grade eleven course to get ahead. He's got our lunch which separates him from Kari, TK, and Ken but it's okay because we're all friends with him anyway.

"Matt thinks the new guy's hot," Sora said with a grin.

"Ooh," everyone began to tease me.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed, my face turning red. "All I said was that he was cute! And luckily, he's not that much of a stupid jock."

"So can we set you up?" Tai asked.

I gave him a dirty look. "No."

"But you just said he was cute," Mimi pressed. "Why not?"

"Because! I don't need you guys to set me up!"

"But it could be fun!"

"No!"

"Party pooper." Daisuke stuck his tongue out at me. Obviously they'd filled him in on the situation.

"Anyone want to come to the movies tonight?" Mimi asked. "Sora, Kari and I were planning on going."

"To see what?" Daisuke asked, wrinkling his nose. "A chick flick?"

Mimi rolled her eyes. "We can change the movie."

"Okay," Daisuke agreed. "I'm in."

"I'll see if I can," Eri said.

"I have too much homework," Koushiro declined.

Sora turned towards Tai and I with a raised eyebrow. "What about you two?"

I opened my mouth to say that Tai and I could come-after all, he'd been saying how bored he was-but he elbowed me in the side. I looked at him in confusion.

"We've got a project to work on," Tai lied.

"Bummer," Daisuke said.

The next-and last-period of the day was phys ed, which I had with Tai. We were in the changerooms when I remembered about what he'd said.

"Why did you say we were busy?" I asked him. "I thought you wanted to do something later."

"I do," Tai said, "but I kinda wanted it to be just the two of us. Besides, you said you'd be tired."

I shrugged. "Whatever, I was just wondering."

Once we'd changed, we went into the gym to find that Raian was in our class, which put him in three of my four classes- four in five if you included lunch. That was more classes than I had with Tai.

"That's the new guy?" Tai said doubtfully. "He's the soccer player?"

He was getting skeptical looks from other people when they found that out, too. However, all questions were dismissed about halfway through class. We went outside to play soccer, and everyone was eager to see his skills. Let me tell you, just because he didn't look the type it didn't mean he wasn't the type. He got out there and blew everyone away. In the end it was pretty much he and Tai facing off; the rest of us were just there for support. The score was tied, but we didn't get to see who would win because the bell rang to signal the end of school. Usually we stop before that, but it had been an intense match.

"The guy's got some serious skills," Tai said to me, shaking his head and panting. "Looks like I've got competition."

"Yeah, he was kicking your ass." I smirked.

Tai glared at me playfully, knowing I was just teasing. "Shut up, Ishida, you just wish you were as good as me."

I snorted. "Yeah right. I think you've gotten hit one too many times with that soccer ball."

Tai went off to soccer practice once he'd gotten a drink and I went to my locker to get my stuff. Then I walked home, showered and got changed for band practice, and headed on my way.

We hold band practice in either Shin's garage or basement, or Eri's garage. It's funny when we practice at Eri's because he lives in a huge house in this rich neighbourhood, so the neighbours claim that we're "disrupting the peace" or something. That's why we practice at Shin's place more often. He lives in a bungalow-type house, but it's got a basement. Hiro lives in an apartment like me, so our places are out of the question.

That day, practice was in Shin's garage. When I got there, everyone else had already arrived.

"Ishida's here," Shin announced mockingly. "Everyone clear the floor!"

Shin's the drummer, and Hiro and Eri are the guitarists. I'm the bassist and I sing lead vocals, as I mentioned before. Let me quickly describe my bandmates-except for Eri, whom you know already.

Shin's very outgoing, to say the least. He has spiky tan hair and hazel eyes. Sometimes he can be a bit too much to handle, especially when he doesn't realize that you're upset and he aggravates you until you end up screaming at him. It's happened many times, believe me.

Hiro's real name is Hiroya, and he's got long brownish-auburn hair¹. His eyes are a nice green and he knows how to play the bass along with guitar. He even knows how to play the drums, but not as well as Shin. Anyway, Hiro and I are really close. I go to him for relationship advice, and he keeps secrets really well.

"So I hear you're being set up with that new guy at school," Shin said. "What's his name? Raian?"

"No, I refuse to let them set me up."

"Tell them they can set me up with him any day." Shin grinned.

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Can we lower the hormone level and play some music?"

I got home from band practice at around 5:45 and called Tai. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, Yama! You want me to bring anything? A movie or something..?"

"Nah, we'll find something."

"Okay. See you in a few minutes."

Tai hung up before I could even say bye.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

All's fair in love, war, and video games. That's Tai's motto.

"Yes! I beat you **again!** Who's the master?"

"You cheated!" I protested.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did! You took my controller and threw it across the room!"

"I still won."

I rolled my eyes and switched off the game system. "Seeing as you won't play a fair game-and now that I've said that, you'll probably let me beat you in the next game-why don't we watch a movie?"

"Okay." Tai got up from where we were sitting on the floor and sat on the couch cross-legged. "Pick one."

"You pick."

"I don't care."

"Neither do I!" I picked the first movie that I saw and put it in, then turned off the light and sat down next to Tai. We sat there in silence for a moment or two before Tai spoke up.

"I'm hungry."

Of course, Tai made me make food for him. I made enough food so that my dad could have some when he came home from work. It turned out that he came home not long after I'd finished preparing it. We all ate, then my dad went to his room and Tai and I went back to the living room to watch the movie.

"What movie did you put in?" Tai wanted to know.

"I thought you said it didn't matter."

"It doesn't. I just want to know."

"You'll see."

About a minute later, Tai's question was answered.

"Ladder 49? I didn't even know you had this movie."

"Neither did I," I confessed. "I've never watched it before."

"Same here."

"Good." I leaned back and got comfortable.

It only took a few minutes for me to get really into the movie. Tai looked pretty entranced too. He's one of the only guys I know who can appreciate sad movies like I can-but if I get too overwhelmed he'll tease me. Most of the other guys I know-like his jock friends-just laugh rudely or get bored and talk through the whole thing if it's not an action movie or a comedy. They also laugh at scary movies(which usually scare the shit out of me). Tai isn't that phased by scary movies, but he doesn't ridicule the truly scary ones when he knows I'm afraid. The other jocks aren't that sensitive. At all.

Now, I don't usually cry at movies. But something about the movie really struck me, and I found myself holding back tears at many parts. By the end, I was rubbing my eyes to keep the tears from spilling over. And when one or two did slip out, I tried to be as silent as possible and wipe them away before Tai could see. He looked over at me, smiled, and rubbed my thigh. Just as a soothing action. When the movie finished completely, Tai leaned over and put an arm around my neck.

"Aww," he teased lightly, ruffling my hair.

"Shut up." I smoothed down my hair and got up to take the movie out. "It was sad."

"I know." Tai gave me a little grin. "It's not your fault you have girly reflexes."

"I do not have 'girly reflexes'."

"You were crying." Tai grabbed my hand as I began to pass by. I put the movie down on the table as he tugged me down into his lap. "Tell me that's not girly."

"It's not."

"Okay. Then I'll just call them 'Yama reflexes'."

I stuck my tongue out at Tai and got off of him. If I really wanted, I could call attention to some of his own odd behaviors-for instance, pulling me into his lap like he'd just done. But I didn't.

We watched TV for a while, then played some more video games-Tai let me beat him the first time, as predicted-and then retreated to my room because my dad had come into the living room to tell us we were too loud and he was trying to sleep.

Tai and I disconnected the VCR, brought it to my room, and hooked it up there. I've got a small TV in my room. We brought a bunch of random movies with us and I made Tai pick. He chose 'I, Robot'-which is an awesome movie.

"You have good movies," Tai remarked as we settled down and got comfortable on my bed.

"Half of them are yours," I reminded him. "You keep buying new movies and leaving them over here."

Tai shrugged.

After we finished watching 'I, Robot', Tai put 'Oceans Twelve' in. I was getting pretty tired, and about a quarter of the way through I was on my way to dreamland. Tai paused the movie and we got changed, then positioned ourselves under the covers. Tai continued to watch the movie while I drifted off to sleep.

Most people would find it weird that two guys share one bed when they sleep over, especially when one of them is gay- however, it doesn't bother us. I used to be skeptical about it, thinking that Tai might feel awkward, but he doesn't. He trusts me fully and doesn't hesitate to sleep in the same bed as me. I guess that makes us the true definition of best friends.

On Saturday morning I woke up with Tai's weight on top of me and his sturdy arms wrapped around my waist. That often happens when we sleep together. With a roll of my eyes, I unlatched his arms and pushed him a short distance away. Tai sleeps like a rock, so nothing I did would disturb him- except if I whispered in his ear. Oddly enough, he'll wake up if you're too quiet. When he wakes up it can startle you, though, because sometimes he'll just suddenly open his eyes at random. It's creepy.

I contemplated waking Tai, then decided to shower first. I took my time in the bathroom, primping a bit and styling my hair (which took quite a while). When I went to my room to get dressed, Tai woke up as I'd predicted he would.

He yawned. "Morning, Yama."

"Morning." I grabbed some clothes to put on and he trained his eyes on the ceiling while I dressed myself.

"How long've you been awake?" Tai asked me, catching the wet towel I threw at his head once I'd finished changing.

"As long as it takes to shower and style my hair."

"So about three hours, then." Tai smirked.

I reached over to the bed and pinched him. He yelped and rolled off of the bed, lunging towards me and tackling me to the floor. Before I could escape, he pinned me down and messed up my hair, making me shriek.

"Tai! You asshole!"

Laughing, Tai stood up looking satisfied while I scrambled to my feet and looked in the mirror. My eyes widened.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

Tai bolted out of the room and into the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it. I could hear his laughter from behind the door and glared, hoping he could feel the venom in the look I was giving him. With a sigh, I turned back to the mirror and began to mend the damage.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Raian, this is Yamato. You can call him Matt. Matt, this is Raian. I'm sure you two have seen each other around."

Raian smiled at me. "Hey. You're in a bunch of my classes, aren't you?"

"Yeah." I responded, glaring at Mimi and Sora out of the corner of my eye. They were evil. Both of them. The spawn of Satan in human form.

And Tai, too. Tai was holding back his laughter, looking he was going to burst any moment. I cursed them all mentally and began plotting my revenge.

Raian looked at Tai, who quickly swallowed his laughter and pulled a straight face.

"I know you, too, don't I?"

Tai nodded. "Tai Yagami. Captain of the soccer team."

"Right, the only guy who's really competition on the team."

Tai's face brightened at the compliment. I felt like rolling my eyes. Just what we needed; another boost to Tai's ego.

Mimi and Sora had invited Raian to hang out with us; no doubt so they could try and set us up, despite how many times I'd told them it wasn't going to happen. The five of us went to a movie, and of course I ended up sitting next to Raian. He was at the end of the row and Tai sat on the other side of me, then Sora and Mimi.

We were seeing a horror movie called _The Grudge_. Now, this is how Mimi's mind works: she knows that I can get scared at horror movies, so she sat me beside Raian thinking that I would grab onto him or something- which is hilarious because I would never do that. I guarantee it was Mimi's idea, not Sora's, because Sora's plans are more realistic.

I thought the movie was scary- in fact, it freaked the hell out of me. Unfortunately for Mimi, I didn't react in the way she wanted. At least, not to Raian.

During the movie I resorted to clutching the arm rest or squeezing the life out of Tai's arm. I don't know how he could stand it. I clawed my fingernails pretty deep into his skin a few times. This was all very discreet, though, since I already stated that I don't openly hang onto people during scary movies.

For most of the movie I had my knees pulled up to my chest, off the ground. I can't leave my feet on the floor when I'm watching something scary; I always feel like something's gonna reach out and grab me.

When the movie ended, Mimi looked disappointed that I wasn't hanging off of Raian's arm. Rather, I'd had Tai's arm in a deathgrip. I think there was actually a faint imprint from my hand, and several nail marks. If I was him, I wouldn't have put up with it.

"What'd you think of the movie?" Tai asked us as we walked out of the theatre.

"It was creepy!" Mimi exclaimed. "I might not be able to sleep tonight... and if I do, I'll probably dream about it!"

"Some parts were kind of scary," Sora said with a shrug. "What did you guys think?"

"It wasn't that scary," Raian said, and Tai agreed with him.

"I think Matt has a different opinion," Tai teased me. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal that his arm was red and littered with tiny nail imprints.

I felt my face heat up. "It was freaky, okay?"

Tai laughed and Raian was grinning at me, looking amused.

"I'm glad Tai was on the other side of you," he said with a laugh, "otherwise that might've been me."

I knew that Mimi would never place Tai beside me again in a situation like that one. She and Sora went to the bathroom-probably to discuss their next plan-so Tai, Raian, and I waited for them in the main area of the movie theatre.

"Is your arm still able to function?" I asked Tai with an apologetic grin.

He waved his hand in dismissal. "I've built up an immunity. It's not the first time you've nearly put my arm out of commission."

I blushed and shoved him. "Shut up. That's what you get for going to scary movies with me."

"Why do you even go if they scare you so much?"

"Because! I like them."

Tai raised an eyebrow. "So you like not being able to go anywhere by yourself for the next day or two?"

"Tai, just shut up!"

"Aw, am I embarrassing wittle Yama-chan?" Tai smirked.

Raian laughed and Tai grinned at him. I took that opportunity to pinch Tai on the arm, hard.

"Ow!" Tai jumped away from me, then narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I'm gonna get you back later."

"Get me back?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "I had a right to pinch you!"

"Well, it hurt!"

Raian was still laughing. "You two are hilarious."

By the time Mimi and Sora returned, Tai and I had bruises from how hard we'd been pinching each other. They just shook their heads and walked away.

We visited the food court in the nearby mall after that to get something to eat. We'd all just sat down with the food we'd gotten when I realized I'd forgotten to grab a fork. I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Tai asked me.

"To get a fork," I replied. "Fascinating, isn't it?"

"I'll come with you," Mimi volunteered almost immediately, standing. "I mean- I forgot to grab a fork too."

I looked at where she'd been sitting with an eyebrow raised. "But there's a fork right there."

"It's mine," Sora said quickly. I looked at what she was eating.

"...you eat pizza with a fork?"

"Yes."

I looked at her skeptically, but shrugged.

"While you're up, grab me a straw," Tai told me.

"You don't need a straw."

"Well, I want one."

"So? I want you to shut up but I'm not gonna get that, am I?" I smirked.

Tai narrowed his eyes playfully at me. A second later, Mimi was dragging me away from the table. I broke out of her surprisingly strong grip and gave her a confused look. Before I could say anything, though, she spoke.

"Matt, you're supposed to be flirting with **Raian**; not **Tai**!"

I stared in bewilderment. "Are you kidding? Me, flirt with Tai?" I laughed in disbelief.

"Matt, you're a very naturally flirty person. Especially with Tai. I know you might not see it, but I'm sure Raian does, and no guy is ever going to approach you if he thinks you like Tai!"

I snorted. "No one thinks I like Tai."

Mimi raised an eyebrow. "Wanna bet?"

"But Tai's..." I searched for the word, but couldn't find one. "He's... well, he's Tai!"

"Raian doesn't see it that way. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought you two were dating. So stop flirting with Tai!"

"How am I supposed to stop when I didn't even know I was doing it in the first place?"

"I don't know, but do it!"

Mimi and I grabbed the forks-and the straw for Tai-and began back to the table. I gave a little laugh.

"Man. Tell Tai you think I'm 'flirting' with him, he'd get a good laugh."

"Not when I tell him to stop flirting back."

I sighed and shook my head. "You're insane."

I tried to be less "flirty" when we got back to the table. I have no idea if I succeeded or not, but I assume I didn't because Mimi was giving me looks whenever I talked to Tai. I really wondered if she was just imagining things.

Tai went home with me when we split with everyone else. I don't think this pleased Mimi too much either. I do admit, Raian looked a bit suspicious when Tai stated that he was going to "his little Yama-chan's" house.

We were well out of sight and talking about nothing important when Tai changed the subject suddenly.

"Well?" Tai grinned at me.

"Well what?"

"Well, how do you like Raian?"

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously you're all deaf. I told you- I'm not gonna let you set me up with him."

"Mimi's got plans, you know."

"I know. Which reminds me..." I laughed. "Can you believe she told me to stop **flirting** with you?"

Tai snorted. "What?"

"She insists that we were flirting and that it was turning Raian off. She's says I'm 'flirty by nature' or something."

"Flirty by nature?" Tai seemed to consider it for a moment. "Maybe. But how exactly were we flirting?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Mimi tends to imagine things."

We got to my place and Tai called his parents right away to tell them he was sleeping over again. He knew I wasn't going to let him leave me alone in my house; not after we'd watched a scary movie. I let Tai go in the shower first, then went in myself. I hurried, since I really didn't want to be alone for too long. Besides, tons of scary scenes from movies take place in bathrooms. Tai actually offered to just sit in the bathroom while I showered so I wouldn't be alone, but I declined and instead left the bathroom door open. It comforted me somewhat.

I exited the shower, dried off, quickly blowdried my hair, then wrapped my towel around my waist and retreated to my room. Tai was sitting at my computer desk, typing on MSN, and I laid down on my bed, too lazy at that moment to change. He got off the chair and flopped down on top of me.

"I think my arm is feeling better now."

"Shut up."

"You really think that movie was scary?"

"Yes."

Tai shook his head, then moved his hand to my head and began stroking my hair gently; running his fingers through each strand. I closed my eyes and instantly relaxed. I don't allow many people to touch my hair. Tai is one of the select few that can. Something about the way he pets my hair soothes me.

We stayed like that for several minutes, with Tai laying on top of me and caressing my hair as I relaxed and enjoyed the sensation. I was only semi-conscious when Tai stopped and chuckled.

"Don't fall asleep on me, Yama."

I didn't respond, and he nudged me. Then nudged me again.

"Taii," I complained, reluctantly opening my eyes.

"It's not even nine o' clock. You are not going to sleep. And don't you pout at me!"

I couldn't help it; I giggled. Tai rolled his eyes, though smiling, and ruffled my hair a bit- which I normally would've killed him for.

Tai got off of me and went back over to the computer desk, spinning around in the chair and then typing something to someone on MSN. I realized that I was still in just a towel and began to get up. I'd only pulled myself to a sitting position when an article of clothing hit me in the face. It fell into my lap and I blinked.

Tai grinned and tossed me another piece of clothing; a pair of pants, which I caught. "Get dressed. We're going for a walk."

"Right now?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"Because I feel like it." Tai stood. "Hurry up."

I shot Tai a dirty look as he disappeared into the hall, but quickly pulled on my clothes and followed after him. It was useless to argue- if Tai wanted to go for a walk, he was going to go. And if he wanted me to come, he would find a way to drag me along.

We had just exited the building when Tai stopped, nearly making me run into him. He bent his knees a bit and gestured with his hands.

"Get on my back."

"What?"

"I wanna give you a piggyback ride! Get on!"

"Tai, are you kidding?"

"Nope!" Tai craned his neck to look at me. "Come on, Yama!"

I stared at him like he was insane. The idea was ridiculous, really. I was the same height as him, if not taller (I actually think I might be slightly shorter than him, but it bugs him when I say that I'm taller so I stick to that story), and the only reason he weighed more than me was because he had a very athletic build.

...but when did something being ridiculous ever stop me from doing it?

I placed my hands on Tai's shoulders and jumped, wrapping my legs around his waist. He shifted until my weight was balanced, then began to walk. Or run, actually. I shrieked, resting my arms around his neck and laughing. Everyone we passed gave us the weirdest looks, but we didn't care. We were having fun, and that was all that mattered.

We came to a crosswalk down the street and Tai let me down. I was still laughing, as was he.

"Enjoy your ride?" Tai asked with a grin.

"Yes, sir!" I grinned back, then added, "you psycho."

"Hey!"

I burst into laughter again and ran across the street (it was still our turn to cross). He bolted after me just before the light changed, and of course it didn't take long for him to catch me. He grabbed me and picked me up, lifting me over his shoulder. Between fits of giggles, I kicked (not hard) and screamed (not loudly) and struggled (without much effort) and Tai just laughed, ignoring my (futile) attempts. He carried me all the way home like that, with me draped over his shoulder. If I had've been able to see the faces of the people we were passing, I guarantee you that they would've all been staring at us.

Tai took the keys from my back pocket and unlocked my apartment door, then locked it behind us and headed for the living room. He placed me down on the couch and sat down beside me, grinning.

"Well, that was a nice workout."

"Idiot." I stuck my tongue out at him and flopped down into a laying position. My head landed on his leg and he reached down to flick my nose. I scrunched up my face and Tai chuckled.

"Yama, Yama, Yama." He rested a hand on my stomach for a moment, then slid it under my shirt and began tickling me.

I giggled and squirmed. "Stop it!"

"You sound like a girl," Tai teased, attacking me with both hands.

I couldn't stop laughing. I wrapped both arms around my stomach, but he tickled my arms and caused me to move them so that he could access my stomach again.

"No fair!" I exclaimed, breathless from laughter. I broke into another fit of giggles, trying to wrench away from him. "That's not fair! You're not ticklish!"

"I think it's very fair." Tai didn't cease his attack.

I got a "bright" idea and decided to roll away from him. I rolled right off the edge of the couch and landed on the floor with a thump.

"Ow."

Tai leaned over the edge of the couch. He snorted, then cracked up. I glared up at him, but a smile tugged at my lips. It was pretty funny.

Tai was laughing so much that he didn't realize what I was about to do when I grabbed his wrist. I tugged hard and he gave a little yelp, falling on top of me.

"Ugh." I pushed Tai off of me and onto the floor beside me. "I think you broke one of my bones."

"And you broke my fall." He smirked.

"Idiot."

"Loser."

"Jackass."

"Dumbass."

"You wanna fight?" I challenged playfully.

Tai snorted. "Oh, no. Big bad Yamato is threatening me! What ever shall I do?"

I mock-glared at him. "You shall run like a maniac because I'm gonna kick your ass."

"You're gonna kick my ass?" Tai repeated with a raised eyebrow. He pulled me against him and secured me with his arms. "I very much doubt that."

"Let me go!" 

"Nuh-uh."

"Taii!" I whined.

"Yamaa," He mocked.

We were still rolling around on the ground when my dad came home. He walked in the living room, rolled his eyes and shook his head at us, then went to his room. Tai and I continued.

Some time later, Tai and I were sprawled out on the floor watching TV. We were too lazy to get up, and too comfortable.

"I'm surprised you're laying on the ground like this," Tai remarked. "Usually you're too scared and insist that something's gonna grab you and drag you away or something."

"Tai!"

Of course he had to remind me. I got off of the floor and onto the couch, glaring at him. I suddenly felt very aware of my feet and their placement. Stupid Tai. He laughed and got up also, sitting next to me.

"It was just a movie, Yama. You're acting like there's a killer behind you about to stab you in the back."

"**Tai**!"

I instantly turned around to check behind me, and Tai burst into laughter. I glared at him in half-anger, half-panic.

"It's not funny! You're horrible! I'm not talking to you!"

I got off of the couch and stomped off to my room. Quickly, mind you, since now I had it in my mind that a killer was chasing me. Tai followed me like I knew he would, and shut the door behind us. I laid on my bed curled up in a ball, trying to force myself not to look over my shoulder. It didn't work and I glanced around nervously, wishing I wasn't so horribly paranoid.

Tai climbed onto the bed and laid half on top of me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Yama."

"Don't talk to me." I said stubbornly.

"There's no killer, Yama."

"I'm still not talking to you!" I actually felt extremely safe with Tai's arms around me, so I wasn't so worried about a killer anymore. Or anything else like that.

"You're hilarious," Tai said with a laugh. He ruffled my hair.

"Go away." I pouted.

"Okay." Tai released me and sat up, moving to get off the bed. I grabbed him and pulled him back down, glaring at him half-heartedly.

"You're mean."

He laughed and pinched my cheek playfully. "It's kind of hard to take you serious when you tell me to go away, yet you're practically cuddled up to me as much as can be."

I felt my face heat up. "Well, it's your fault! You brought the stupid scary stuff up!"

"Only because it's funny to see the look on your face."

"I don't think it's funny at all!" I folded my arms.

"Don't sulk. Anyway, I'm feeling kind of tired. You wanna go to bed?"

"If I have nightmares, I'm not speaking to you for a week."

Tai and I got ready for bed and soon were back in my room. I made him wait until I was in bed to turn off the lights. He flicked them off and I blinked, trying to adjust to the dark. I swear I saw something and when Tai got into bed beside me, I instantly clung to him.

He chuckled. "You okay, Yama?"

"Not really." I pulled the covers up to my shoulders and huddled into Tai, closing my eyes and trying not to focus on anything scary.

Tai brought his hand up and brushed my hair lightly with his fingers. "It was just a movie, Yama."

"It was scary."

"You want me to turn on a light or something?"

"No..." As long as Tai kept holding me, I'd be fine.

"Okay. Good night."

"Good night."

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

I don't even want to describe the dream that I had, but it wasn't good. It wasn't a dream; it was a nightmare. When I woke up from it I was so relieved, but scared. I didn't want to wake up Tai, but I didn't want to go back to sleep.

"Tai?" My voice seemed loud and out of place.

He didn't respond. I panicked somewhat.

"Tai?" I said louder.

Still nothing. Wishing that Tai wasn't such a heavy sleeper, I took hold of his shoulder and shook him. After a few moments, his eyes opened and he placed his hand over mine, making me stop.

"What?" He looked at me sleepily.

I felt better already, just having Tai awake. "I'm scared."

Tai let out a sigh. "Still?"

"I had this dream..."

Tai looked a bit more sympathetic. "A nightmare?"

I nodded. Tai pulled me into a tighter embrace, making me tuck my face into the crook of his neck and shoulder.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Definitely not. "Not really."

"Okay." Giving me a brief smile, he rubbed my back.

"You sure you don't want some light in here?"

"It's okay. Good night, Tai."

"Night, Yama."

We both closed our eyes again and silence took over. Luckily I slept for the rest of the night without any more nightmares. However, that didn't mean that my fear was gone in the morning.

Tai wasn't awake yet when I woke up. I was going to go into the bathroom and start waking myself up, like I usually do, only I was still feeling very cautious- plus I'd remembered a horrible sight from my nightmare and wanted to just stay in bed forever... only, I didn't really want to sleep because I didn't want to have another nightmare!

Being the freak that he is, Tai woke up because of the small creaks the bed made when I moved. He stretched his arms above his head and let them rest there.

"Morning, Yama."

"Morning... Tai, can you come to the bathroom with me?"

Tai rolled his eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

He shook his head, but smiled and sat up. He compliantly followed me to the bathroom and waited outside the door while I did what I had to do. Then he went in and I went and sat in the middle of my bed until he came out- which was very shortly.

We both got dressed- I wore jeans and a green shirt and Tai wore jeans and a black t-shirt that said, in pink writing, 'Tough Guys Wear Pink'. We decided to go to the mall. Why, you ask? Well, why not?

So Tai and I hopped on the bus (Tai's planning to get a car soon... planning, that is) and went to the mall. First we went to a music store, where Tai bought the new System of a Down CD, and then we headed for one of my favourite clothing stores.

"You are not shoving shirts on me this time," Tai declared.

I raised an eyebrow. "Funny, because that's how you got the shirt you're wearing."

"Yeah, well..." Tai tried to come up with something to say, but couldn't.

I smirked. "Admit it. I have good taste in clothing." I winked at Tai. "I love that shirt on you."

Tai's face turned red and I laughed. He glared at me.

"You're horrible."

"What?" I replied innocently. "I'm not allowed to tell you that you look hot?"

"Yama!"

I grinned. "Fine, I'm done. You're no fun." I stuck my tongue out at him.

We were in that store for quite a while and, yet again, I found a t-shirt for Tai. It was dark blue and said 'I don't suffer from insanity... I enjoy every minute of it!' He loved it, needless to say.

I made Tai come into a few more stores, then we got ice cream (he's like a little kid... you just need to buy him something to make him put up with your shopping a bit longer). We were about to go to the video game store when we passed a salon and a sign caught my eye. I stopped. Tai noticed after a moment and backtracked.

"What is it?"

A grin began to spread across my face. Tai's face grew wary.

"Uh-oh. I know that look. Oh, crap."

I turned to Tai with a bright smile. "Feel like getting pierced today?"

Tai's eyes widened. "Oh, no you don't! You are not dragging me into any fucking crazy shit today!"

My face instantly morphed into my well-practiced 'pout'. "What have I ever done?"

"Do you want me to start listing the things? And don't give me that look!"

I continued to give Tai my 'I'll-guilt-you-into-doing-this' look until he groaned and gave in.

"Fine..."

"Great!" I grabbed Tai's arm and dragged him into the salon. Not only did they do piercings, they did tattoos- but you have to be 18 with ID for that, so I figured that one could wait.

"Hi," the receptionist greeted us. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," I said. "My friend here would like to get an eyebrow piercing."

Tai's eyebrows shot up. "Wha-"

"Right now?" the girl asked me.

I nodded. "Yup."

"Do you have any ID with you?"

I nodded again and pulled Tai's wallet out of his pocket, showing her his driver's license. She nodded and began to lead us into the back of the place.

"Yama!" Tai practically squeaked. "Are you insane?"

I smirked. "Scared?"

"No!"

"Then come on."

We were seated in some chairs in a small waiting area. There was only one other person there, a boy who looked around our age with about chin-length black hair, vivid green bangs, and... magenta eyes?

I guess he noticed me staring at him because he looked over and smiled at me.

"They're contacts."

I felt myself blushing and grinned a bit at him. "Sorry for staring."

"That's okay. I get a lot of it." He laughed.

I noticed then that he was wearing a blue shirt that said 'If I said you had a great body, would you hold it against me?' That widened my grin and encourage me to flirt a bit with him even more.

"I love your hair," I told him. "It looks really good on you."

"Thanks. Your hair's pretty great too. How long does it take you to style it every morning?"

"Oh, not long."

Tai snorted from beside me and I gave him a sharp but subtle nudge. I flashed a grin at... um, what was his name?

"I'm Yamato," I introduced myself, "but you can call me Matt."

"I'm Kiseki. How old are you?"

"Seventeen. You?"

"Sixteen. Funny, that's the age I guessed you were."

"Are you saying you're psychic?" I grinned teasingly.

He grinned back. "Hm, maybe. Let me guess... your friend's getting pierced."

"Uh-huh."

Kiseki studied Tai for a moment. "I'd say... eyebrow."

"Wow. How did you know?"

He shrugged. "I guess I really am psychic, huh?" He threw me a wink.

At that moment, someone came out of the piercing area and told Tai he was ready for him. I gave Kiseki one last smile and followed Tai into the piercing room.

"Mimi's right," Tai said to me. "You are 'flirty by nature'."

I stuck my tongue out at him. Tai sat in the chair and the guy asked Tai a few questions-I didn't really pay attention-and prepared to pierce him. He'd asked what kind of piercing Tai wanted and I had answered for him; he was going to do the left eyebrow with a barbell (not a ring). Tai was giving me death glares the whole time. I just smiled back innocently.

"Why aren't **you** getting pierced?" he growled at me.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "It's more fun to watch you get it done."

Tai had to stop glaring at me then because the man was ready to pierce him. I offered Tai my hand with a smirk. He ignored me and gripped the arm of the chair instead.

Tai braced himself as the man prepared the needle... and then it was done. Before we knew it, Tai's eyebrow was done and we had paid the man for it.

"Wow," Tai said, staring in the mirror.

"Like I said, I have good taste. You look hot."

"Shut up."

I held up my hands in defense. "It's a fact, not an opinion."

While the man began to give Tai proper care instructions, I went back out into the waiting room. Kiseki was still there.

"What are you getting pierced?" I asked him.

"Nothing."

I was confused. "Then why are you here?"

"That guy in there? I'm his nephew."

"Oh!"

"Yeah."

Tai emerged from the piercing area and Kiseki smiled at me.

"Maybe I'll see you again some time?"

"Maybe. See ya."

"Bye."

Tai and I left with his newly-pierced eyebrow. He was actually very happy about it. I knew it would look good on him.

...only, there was one tiny thing we'd forgotten.

"Hey, Tai?"

"Yeah?"

"Your mom's gonna freak."

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

¹ - He looks like Hiro from Gravitation. Because Gravitation has partially taken over my mind.

A/N: Yeah and... Tyson gets credit for many things as usual. Just assume it. By the way, my pitchfork store is still open... if you have no clue what I'm talking about, GO READ BLACK ROSE! After you review this, of course... and read Defy Stereotypes by BreatheMeDeep!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I was gonna reply to reviews, since I've only ever done it once before, and I felt like it but... takes me too long, I'm lazy and it crowds the fic. And I do have one small thing to clarify. To kikei: No, Shin isn't based off of Shindou.

Aand, as you must have come to assume by now, Tyson Foxflame is the best and helped me out with many ideas for this. :D (glares controllingly at people) I command you to love her!

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Digimon, the characters from it, not getting paid, etc. etc.

**Headfirst for Halos**  
by: nEo-cHaN

I didn't hear from Tai for the rest of the weekend after he'd left my house. That made me feel pretty guilty-it meant he was grounded-but I knew a surefire way to make him forgive me instantly, and it had only cost me a few bucks.

Monday rolled around and I found myself waiting at my locker before class. I didn't have to wait long. Tai came stomping down the hall, barely acknowledging people's remarks about his new piercing. Quite a few girls were staring at him. Like I said, it looked hot on him.

"You!" Tai exclaimed, stopping in front of me. He glared at me.

"Grounded?"

"For a week! The next time you ask me to do **anything**-"

I pulled a box out of my locker and held it out to him. He blinked, then took the box and his face instantly lit up.

"Chocolate? For me?"

"Yup. All yours." I closed my locker. "So she freaked out, huh?"

Tai nodded. "Yeah... I don't think she was that mad, though. She already cooled down a bit; this morning she told me I'm allowed to use the phone."

"Cool."

Tai ripped opened the box of chocolates and shoved one in his mouth. It might seem sort of Valentine's Day-ish but, believe me; when you're dealing with Tai, there's no wrong time to give him chocolate. Except, of course, if you have a headache or want to rest.

"Oh my God!"

I turned at the sound of the female voice. Within moments, Mimi was right next to us and staring at Tai.

"When did you get your eyebrow done?" she exclaimed.

"Saturday," Tai replied.

"Just like that?"

"Well, Matt kinda forced me..."

"It looks so good on you!"

Mimi was attracting attention. I knew Tai would be getting remarks all day for the next few days, and it was all thanks to me.

Sora found us soon after and had a similar reaction to Mimi's. Izzy was really surprised about the piercing when we walked into math class, and Jyou didn't actually see it but he told me to tell Tai to take proper care of it. I heard that Daisuke freaked out when Tai walked into computer class. He liked it, though.

Eri liked the piercing and said it suited Tai. Several people came up to Tai at lunch and complimented him on it. I felt responsible, and for that I felt proud. It's like Tai's a work of art of mine. I pick out clothes for him (when he lets me), accessorize him, all of that good stuff. I would style his hair but obviously that's not an option. Besides, I don't think any other hairstyle would work for Tai. His hair is just so... him. I'm working on trying to convince Tai to let me experiment on him with eyeliner. I'll succeed someday, I'm telling you.

The day flew by. In last period, one of Tai's soccer buddies asked Tai if the piercing hurt and then they all started talking about their strength and how brave they were and shit. Honestly, I can't stand those jocks. I have no idea how Tai puts up with them.

"Cool, man," Raian had said when he saw the piercing. I felt it necessary to point out how hot I thought it was- partially just to see the glare I knew Tai would give me. Raian just laughed and told Tai he was a "chick magnet". Talk about inflating Tai's ego.

I had band practice after school in Shin's garage. Somehow during practice, the topic became Tai's eyebrow piercing.

"That's frikkin hot," Shin commented. "Trust Yamato to make a guy impossibly hotter."

"Tai? Impossibly hot?" I looked at Shin skeptically.

"You might not see it because you're his best friend, but he's one of the hottest guys I know. I doubt there are many people who wouldn't like to get into his pants."

"Ugh, please stop." I shook my head. "It's so wrong to think about my best friend that way."

"He may be your best friend, but he's hot."

"The eyebrow ring **is** attractive," Hiro said. "It looks good on him. I doubt he would've done it if anyone else had've asked him to."

"Yeah, well, I have my ways." I grinned.

We launched into practicing then and after that, all conversation was just pointless banter. After practice we stayed and hung out for a little bit, then parted ways.

I was only home for about a half hour when the phone rang. After looking at the caller ID and not recognizing the number, I picked up cautiously.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is Yamato there please?"

"Speaking."

"Oh, hi. It's Raian."

Instantly I began plotting ways to get Mimi back. Raian seemed like a great guy and all, but I absolutely refused to be set up.

...of course, he didn't have to know that.

"Hey, Raian. What's up?"

"Not much. I called you a little while ago, I guess you were out?"

"Yeah, I was practicing with my band."

"Oh, you have a band?" Raian sounded genuinely interested.

"Yeah, we're called Paradox. One of the members is Eri, he's in our music class? He's got black hair and blue-ish eyes?"

"I think I met him. What do you play?"

"Bass. And I sing lead vocals. You should come and hear us sometime."

"That'd be cool. You guys ever get any gigs?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you when we get our next one. Do you have a band? You're pretty good at guitar, from what I saw."

"Nah. I used to jam with a couple of friends sometimes, but I never really had an official band."

"That's too bad."

"Not really. I've got soccer, right?"

Right, I'd forgotten. "Right... what do you think of the team?"

"They're your average soccer team. Except for your friend, Tai. He's amazing."

I felt like rolling my eyes. "Yeah, he thinks so too."

Raian laughed.

"I'm the one responsible for his eyebrow piercing," I mentioned. "He should be thanking me. The girls were going crazy."

"It was a good choice. It really looks good on him."

"I know."

Raian laughed again. "Don't be offended by me asking, but... are you bi?"

"Nope."

"Oh, sorry."

"I'm gay."

He chuckled. "Do you enjoy tricking people?"

I felt myself grinning. "Sometimes. So, what about you?"

"You mean, am I gay?"

"No, I mean are you bi?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh, why does Tai have to bite his nails?"

"...what?" Raian sounded confused.

"I said; why does Tai have to bite his nails?"

"...what does Tai have to do with anything?"

"Well, his discarded nails are on my carpet."

Raian started laughing. "Man, that's gross!"

"Yeah." I sighed. "He won't stop biting his frikkin' nails. He doesn't do it in my presence, though, because he knows I'll catch him and probably put nailpolish on his nails to make him stop."

Raian laughed some more. "You'd really put nailpolish on him?"

"Are you kidding? Without hesitation."

Raian and I talked about a variety of random things-including the subject of why anyone would eat pizza with a fork-and eventually got off the phone. I was surprised that we'd talked for so long. Raian really was a cool guy. But even if I allowed them to set me up, I couldn't see Raian and I going out. He actually wasn't my type, for some reason.

A few minutes after I hung up with Raian, the phone rang again. It was Tai.

"Hey," I said, picking up the phone.

"Finally!" Tai sounded irritated.

"Finally what?" I asked.

"I've been calling you for the longest time!" he exclaimed.

"What? My other line would've gone off if you'd been calling."

"Believe me, I've been fucking calling!"

Oops. So those weird noises Raian and I kept hearing hadn't just been the phones screwing up, then. I must've been really involved in the conversation to not realize it was the other line.

"Who were you on the phone with?" Tai demanded.

"No one," I answered nonchalantly. That was sure to get on Tai's nerves.

"Are you fucking kidding me? If you were on the phone with 'no one', you would've known I was calling!"

"Jeez, Tai, calm down."

"Who were you on the phone with?"

"Raian," I said casually.

There was a pause, then "**Raian**? Why were you on the phone with **Raian?**" Tai said Raian's name in an odd tone, and I could just picture him scrunching his face up.

"Why **wouldn't** I be on the phone with Raian?" I countered.

"How did he get your number?"

"Mimi."

"Well... what were you talking about so intently that you didn't know I was calling?"

"I don't know. This and that."

"This and that?" Tai repeated. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Tai, honestly, it **is** possible to just not realize someone's on the other line. What are you, jealous?" I grinned to myself.

"No," he said immediately.

"Mm-hm, whatever. Anyway, why were you calling?"

"Do I need a reason to call?"

"Sometimes."

He was silent for a moment, then spoke. "You're such a fucking asshole."

"I love you too. So how did Kari like the piercing?"

"Loved it. She's out with TK, Dai, and Ken right now... why can't she have more **girl** friends?"

I laughed.

"No, I'm serious! Kari's not allowed to have a boyfriend until she's at least eighteen!"

I snorted. "Whatever, Tai."

"I'm not kidding! If I catch her with a guy before that, she's dead!"

"Whatever, Tai."

"And if it happens to be your brother, I'll make you call him off."

"Oh really? And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"With my irresistible charm, of course."

"More like your non-existent charm."

"Don't be mean. I'll cut off your hair while you're sleeping."

My eyes widened instinctively and my hand flew to my head. "Don't you dare threaten my hair!"

I could just picture Tai's smug grin. "Then admit that I'm handsome, charming, and the sexiest guy alive."

"Never."

"You know, Yama, I think your hair would look good short.."

"You're handsome, charming, and sexy."

"Uh-uh. The sexiest guy alive."

I glared at the phone. "You're handsome, charming, and the sexiest guy alive."

"Thank you."

"Bastard."

"Moron."

"Jerk."

"Raian-lover."

"Dumba- ...wait, **what**?"

"You heard me."

"Weren't you jealous of Raian just a few minutes ago?" I teased.

"I was not jealous! I just don't see how you didn't notice me calling a hundred times on the other line!"

"A hundred, huh? And I thought soccer was your major skill, not speed-dialing."

"Shut it, Ishida."

"Can't think of a comeback? Hm?"

"Why do I put up with you?"

"Because you love me. Why do **I** put up with **you**?"

"Because I'm the only one you can manipulate so easily."

I laughed. "I've trained you well."

"Only girls manipulate people."

"Oh, you are so dead."

Our verbal battles can go on for ages. And, usually, they do.

On Tuesday at lunch, I got to our usual table to find that Raian was there. I briefly wondered why he hadn't sat with us before and came to the conclusion that Mimi probably hadn't thought about it until then.

"Hey," I said as Tai and I sat down. I looked at Raian. "Been avoiding us, huh?" I teased.

He laughed. "Shoot, I've been found out! Mimi caught me today."

Mimi looked pleased that we were speaking without her encouragement.

"We have soccer practice after school," Tai interrupted, making Raian turn to him.

Raian nodded. "Yeah, I know. When's our next game?"

"Friday during school. We get excused from class."

"Cool."

"Too bad, I don't get to watch," I remarked.

Tai snorted. "You don't even like watching."

"Well, I come whenever you have a game, don't I?"

"Yeah, but you don't enjoy it."

"How do you know?"

Tai gave me a half-hearted glare, but shut up. Yeah, I only went to support Tai and could care less about the sport. So what? It was still fun to challenge Tai over it.

"Oh, Matt, I gave Raian your number," Mimi said not-so-casually. "I hope you don't mind."

"He knows," Raian said. "I called him yesterday."

"Oh, okay." Mimi grinned. Great.

"So that's why I couldn't get through," Tai said as if he didn't know. "It was you that Yama was on the phone with?"

Raian nodded. "You were trying to call?"

"Yeah, supposedly he's deaf and didn't hear the other line go off."

I shot Tai a look, but he ignored me. Raian laughed.

"So that's what those noises were!" He grinned at me.

"Yup." I shot Tai a told-you-so look.

Tai looked like he wanted to stick his tongue out at me, but he didn't. Luckily.

Daisuke was telling Sora, Eri, and Izzy a story. I guess it was something about Kari because Tai jumped in with,

"Dai, I hope you guys know that I'll kill you if you ever attempt to touch my sister in any way!"

Tai got involved in that conversation and I rolled my eyes at Raian.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, two baby sisters. They're twins."

"How old are they?"

"Fifteen."

I rolled my eyes. "'Baby' sisters... you're just like Tai. What are their names?"

"Riley and Raegan."

"Three R's, huh?"

"Yeah, my parents really like the letter 'R'."

"I'm assuming you're as protective as Tai and won't allow them to date until they're eighteen?"

"No... they just have to have parental supervision, a set distance they have to be from the boy at all times, and I have the right to ask the boy twenty questions about whatever I please."

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Angels must be singing, because that beautiful sound could come from nowhere else! Unless my Yama is laughing, of course." Tai flashed me a grin.

...what the fuck? I looked at Tai oddly, and Raian looked confused too. What the hell was Tai saying? And wasn't he supposed to be talking with Daisuke and the others?

"Tai, come with me to get a drink?" Mimi requested, standing up suddenly.

Tai hesitated.

"Come on, Tai." It was more of a command than anything else and Tai reluctantly stood, following her away from the table.

Tai was acting really weird. Honestly, that was the strangest thing he'd ever said. I replayed it in my head and still couldn't make sense of it. What the...?

I shook my head, dismissing it. It was Tai. Tai was weird. Whatever.

"Do you have any siblings?" Raian was asking me.

I nodded. "I've got a brother, he's fifteen... hey, do your sisters go to this school?"

"Yeah, does your brother?"

"Yup. So does Tai's sister, Kari." I leaned over to Daisuke. "Hey, Dai, do you know any twin sisters in your grade?"

He nodded. "Yeah, there's only one pair. Why?"

"They're Raian's sisters."

"Oh, cool. I think Kari's starting to befriend them."

"Tai should be happy about that," I remarked. "He's been going on about how Kari needs more female friends."

"They look related to you now that I think about it," Daisuke mentioned, directing the comment towards Raian.

"So they're pretty?" I said.

I realized after that it could be taken as an insult, if Raian thought I was calling him pretty and was offended by that. But Raian just smiled.

Tai made a few other strange comments during lunch, but none as weird as that first one. I would have to ask him later where that had come from. Luckily after school, Tai lingered at my locker long enough for me to bring it up.

"What the hell was that earlier?" I demanded to know.

"What?" he asked, looking clueless.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "The shit about angels singing or whatever!"

"Oh, that." Tai shrugged. "Just, y'know. When random things enter my mind, I let them out."

"Angels singing?" I said again in disbelief.

"I have to go to soccer practice. I'll call you tonight- hopefully before Raian catches you."

Tai gave me a little pat on the arm, then waved and headed off. I stared after him for a few moments.

Maybe he really **was** jealous.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

I recieved a call from Mimi first when I got home. She, of course, wanted to know about mine and Raian's phone conversation.

"Mimi, how many times do I have to tell you? You're not setting me up with him."

"Oh, don't give me that! You can't lead him on like this if you're not gonna date him!"

"I'm not leading him on," I said innocently.

"Oh, please. I bet you he'll ask you out by the end of this week."

"Mimi, if you tell him to ask me out-"

"I won't have to."

"Whatever."

"By the way, Matt, what's going on with Tai?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you. It's almost like he doesn't want me talking to Raian."

Mimi sighed. "Ah, the classic 'jealous best friend'. How cute."

"You really think he's jealous?" I asked skeptically.

"After that 'angel singing' remark? Definitely. Or his mind was temporarily taken over by aliens. Pick one."

Personally, I'd choose the alien one.

"Tai'll get over it. He's just used to you paying all of your attention to him. Basically, you spoiled him like a parent spoils their child. It's like Raian is a new baby. It's natural for Tai to be jealous."

"I guess... but I flirt with guys all the time and Tai doesn't act like this."

"Maybe he sees the true potential for a relationship between you and Raian."

"Whatever, Mimi. Not gonna work."

Some time later, Tai phoned. I was off the phone with Mimi, so I didn't have to listen for the other line.

"Hi, Tai," I said, picking up.

"Hey. I just got out of the shower. Kari was on the phone when I got home so I figured I'd take a quick shower and see if she got off."

"And she did?"

"No, but I blackmailed her. Anyway, did you know Raian has sisters?"

"Yeah, we were talking about it at lunch. Kari's friends with them, right?"

"Yup. I expected it to be Dai or TK on the phone but it was one of them. And when did you guys talk about it?"

"Um, at lunch?"

"Yeah, but when? I didn't hear that conversation."

"You were talking to Dai."

"Oh."

Silence. I opened my mouth to speak, but Tai was faster.

"You wanna go someplace Friday or Saturday? My mom'll probably be cool by then."

"Sure. Where do you wanna go?"

"Well, I was thinking-"

My call waiting sounded, cutting him off. "Oh, hold on Tai, the other line."

I switched to the other line. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me, Raian."

"Oh, hi!"

"What's up?"

"Not much... actually, I'm on the phone with Tai."

"Oh, okay. I'll call back, then."

"Could you?"

"Sure. Bye."

"Bye." I clicked back to the original line. "Tai?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, hi."

"Who was it?"

"No one. So what do you wanna do this weekend?"

"Was it Raian?"

I felt like rolling my eyes. "Yes, it was Raian."

"What, is he gonna call you every day now?" Tai said in an I'm-joking-but-serious voice.

"Does it matter if he does?" I responded.

"...no."

"Good."

The rest of our conversation was normal... well, as normal as our conversations get. Tai and I made plans to not make plans and just randomly hang out and do whatever came up. TK called me an hour or so later and we talked for a bit. He said a few things I found quite interesting.

"So who do you like?" I asked playfully during our chat.

"No one," he said quickly.

I laughed. "Now I **know** there's someone. Who is it?"

"Well, who do **you** like?"

"No one at the moment. Sorry, little bro, no trading this time."

"Well, I'm not telling. You'll meddle and embarrass me in front of them."

"Hm, so it's someone I know." I thought for a moment. Time to start listing everyone. "Let's see... Kari?"

"No."

"Mimi?" He'd never said it wasn't someone older.

"No."

"Sora?"

"No."

Well, those were the girls. "Tai?"

"No... wait, **what**?"

"Something wrong?" I asked innocently.

"Yes!" TK exclaimed. "Tai's a **guy!**"

"Your point being...?"

"I'm not gay!"

"I never said you were."

"I'm not bi either!"

"You know, Teeks, it's perfectly normal to be exploring your sexuality-"

"Ack! Stop!" I could picture TK holding his hands over his ears.

I started laughing. "If you don't tell me, I'll keep listing guys. What about Ken, huh? Or Kou?"

"Okay, okay, I give! You promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise."

There was a moment of silence, then TK mumbled something under his breath. I couldn't make out a word he said.

"...what?"

Another jumble of words that I didn't understand.

"TK, I can't hear a word you're saying."

"I like Dai!"

My eyebrows instinctively shot up. It was funny, though, because I wasn't surprised. Which was why I'd taken TK's denial of being gay or bi with a grain of salt.

"You like Dai?" I repeated, just to clarify.

"Yes," TK admitted in a low voice.

"Haha, that's cute."

"It's not cute!" TK whined. "Matt, what do I do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's a guy!"

"TK, are you honestly expecting me to tell you that it's wrong?"

"Obviously not, but... well..." TK sighed heavily. "It's not fair. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, of course, I just... don't want to be."

"It's quite fun, you should try it."

"Matt!"

"Okay, okay. Listen, the first thing you need to do is find out if Dai's straight or not."

"He is."

"Did he tell you that?"

"...no..."

"Then find out. Dai's a great guy, he's open to anything. It's not like he's gonna reject you. The worst could be that he just doesn't like you that way. If you want, I can-"

"No! I don't want anyone involved in this! That's how things always get wrecked!"

"Okay, okay. I won't tell anyone."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay." TK seemed to relax a bit. "What do think Dai will say?"

"Honestly? I think you two will make a great couple."

"Matt, be serious!"

"I am!" I defended myself.

"...you really think it'll work out?"

"Yes, TK."

"I hope so..."

"Me too. Heh, I guess liking guys runs in the family. Me... you... Mom..."

TK and I talked for a little while longer, then got off the phone. I was tempted to tell someone about TK's crush-namely Mimi, since she'd kill me if she found out I'd known and didn't tell her-, but held back. After all, I'd promised- and there was no way Mimi would be able to keep it a secret.

On Wednesday in Music, Raian approached me the moment he entered the classroom. I was sitting with Mimi and Eri at the time.

"Hey," he said, sitting down in front of me. Our music room has sort-of levels; there's a row of chairs in a semi-circle, then you step down and there's another row of chairs in the same formation and... yeah, it's hard to explain. "Sorry I didn't call back yesterday, Riley was on the phone for hours." Raian rolled his eyes.

"That's okay."

"Were you and Tai on the phone for long?"

I shrugged. "We just made plans to do something this weekend. He thinks he'll be off his grounding sentence by then."

"You guys should go to the amusement park. I've been wanting to go."

That was a really good idea. "That's actually a really good idea. Tai loves amusement parks. You should come with us! You guys too," I said to Mimi and Eri, although I'm sure they knew they were invited.

A lunch I proposed the idea to Tai, who of course loved it. We invited Sora, Koushiro, and Dai too. We told Dai to invite TK, Kari, and Ken also. Raian's sisters too, if they wanted. I told Kou to invite Jyou and told everyone to invite Shin and Hiro if they happened to see them in the halls. It looked like it was going to be a huge outing.

The group we ended up with was me, Tai, Raian, Mimi, Sora, Hiro, Eri, TK, Dai, Ken, and Kari. It was chaotic organizing and planning everything and finding each other, but eventually we all ended up at the amusement park together on Saturday. And so our day began.

Mimi's scared of rollercoasters, but we still manage to drag her on. She's gotten sick a few times, so we've learned not to let her eat certain foods before we take her on a ride. I think Ken's kind of scared of roller coasters too, but Daisuke either doesn't notice or doesn't care because he drags him along on every ride anyway.

We let Dai, TK, Ken, and Kari go off in their own little group and arranged to meet them at a certain time and spot later. Then we headed for the first rollercoaster we saw.

Tai loves cotton candy a bit too much. I think he got a new package between every few rides. He declared that cotton candy is one of life's great mysteries.

We exhausted the roller coasters after a couple of hours and it was a pretty hot day, so we decided to go to the water park section. There was this waterfall that you could stand under and we headed straight for it.

"Oh, that's so much better," Tai said, being the first to reach the waterfall. He pulled his shirt over his head and proceeded to get thoroughly soaked underneath the water.

Raian followed suit, taking off his shirt and standing under the water. I may not have been interested in him, but I had to admit he had a great body. I eyed him discreetly, standing off to the edge of the water where there was more of a mist.

Shin joined Raian and Tai under the water, but the rest of us cooled ourselves off while standing in the misty space. I really didn't feel like getting drenched. But, of course, Tai stepped in.

"Scared of the water?" he taunted, grinning at me.

I rolled my eyes. "No, I just don't feel like-" I broke off into a startled yelp when Tai pulled me underneath the water.

"You asshole!" I exclaimed, slapping him on the shoulder. He laughed and grabbed me into a big, wet hug. I squirmed against him and he ruffled my now-wet hair.

Wait a minute... my hair!

My eyes widened in horror and my hands flew to my head. Tai snorted.

"You're such a girl."

"Tai, you... you...!" I gaped at him.

"Heh. I get the feeling it's time to go." Tai darted off in the direction of a water ride.

I refused to talk to Tai for a while after that... until everyone plotted against me and forced me beside him on one of the rides. Apparently they were "tired of watching me sulk".

I folded my arms and looked pointedly in the other direction while the ride started up. It was a pretty calm ride, it basically just drifted over the water and occasionally might spray you with water from above.

"Yamaa," Tai whined, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. "Come on, don't be such a baby. It's just hair."

I turned my head to glare at him. "Just hair? I'll have you know that my hair, and styling it, is a form of art!"

Tai looked like he wanted to roll his eyes, but was smart enough not to. "Well, I'll have you know that your hair looks fine. Don't be so uptight." He reached up and ran a hand through my hair with a little grin.

"You're walking thin ice, Yagami."

"And I'm damn good at it."

Ugh. I hated it when I couldn't stay mad at him.

"You ruin my hair again and I'll kick your ass."

"Got it." Tai let me go and leaned back.

After we left the water section, we happened to pass by a bunch of game stands. Our group ended up scattered somewhat, admiring the prizes and attempting to win some.

I saw a little stuffed penguin holding a guitar and fell instantly in love with it. It was adorable.

"I want that," I declared, pointing at it.

I wasn't serious. I mean, I **was**-I really did want it-but I wasn't expecting anyone to win it for me or anything. But Raian walked up, looked at it, then turned to me and said, "You got it."

And he won it for me. I stood there stunned while he won, got the penguin, and handed it to me. It took me a few seconds to snap out of it, but I finally did and smiled at him.

"Thanks."

Suddenly a hand grabbed my arm and I was dragged to the next booth. I looked at Tai in confusion and irritation and he pointed at one of the prizes.

"Do you like that?"

I furrowed my brow in further confusion. "Sure, why-"

"Say no more! I'm gonna win it for you!"

I stared at Tai for a few moments, shaking my head slowly. "You... are an idiot."

"What?" Tai sounded defensive. "I can't win something for my best friend?"

"You really think you can win this?"

"Thanks for the faith," Tai said sarcastically. "This is such an easy game! Of course I can win it!"

"Alright, then you won't mind making a bet." I grinned. "If you lose, I get to put eyeliner on you later."

"Deal." Tai said confidently.

"Shake on it." I held out my right hand.

Tai shook it and I smirked.

"Wonderful."

I honestly don't know how, but Tai lost. This sent all of us who were watching into hysterics, because it really was probably the easiest game in the whole park.

"It was fixed!" Tai insisted, face red. "That's not fair!"

I snorted. "Yeah, okay. I hope you're ready for your makeover tonight!"

Tai looked pained. "Someone up there must hate me..."

Shortly after that happened, Raian came up to me and gave me another prize he'd won. Tai didn't seem too happy about that and took it upon himself to "catch up" with Raian. He went and won me two prizes, looking satisfied with himself. Until Raian won me something else.

It was like a full-out war. The others found it hilarious, but I really just wanted it to end. It was insane! By the end of it, I had a fairly large collection of stuffed animals and various other prizes in my arms.

The park was about to close, and Raian was playing one last game. Tai was watching him with narrowed eyes. I knew he wanted Raian to lose. The odds were against Raian, too- it was one of the much harder games.

"Nice collection you have there," Mimi said to me with a knowing grin.

I shot her a dirty look. "Oh, shut up."

Bells went off and we all turned our attention to Raian, who had just won again. Tai looked pretty pissed off.

Raian chose his prize and then turned around. I stifled a sigh, really wondering if I could carry one more prize.

"Here you go."

I had almost opened my mouth to say "thank you" automatically when I realized that Raian wasn't giving the prize to me. He was giving it to... Tai?

Tai looked equally shocked. He stood there and just blinked for several moments until finally, almost robotically, he accepted the prize from Raian and said an awkward "Um... thanks."

Everybody was completely thrown off, wondering what the hell was going on. Including me. But Raian just pretended that nothing strange had happened and turned back to the rest of us, commenting that we should get to leaving.

So we headed out of the park, satisfied with how the day had turned out. Tai still looked pretty shocked about what had happened, but none of us wanted to outright ask Raian about it. So the matter was brushed aside.

I had noticed something interesting while we were playing games; Daisuke had won TK quite a few prizes. And I'd caught him with his arm around TK or standing very close several times. I made a mental note to interrogate TK later. And tease him like crazy, of course.

Tai came home with me, intending on sleeping over. I dumped all of the prizes Raian and Tai had won me on my bed, then stood there and shook my head.

"You guys are crazy."

Tai sat down on my bed, frowning slightly and looking deep in thought. I sat down beside him, raising an eyebrow.

"What's up?"

"It makes no sense," Tai said, shaking his head. "Why the hell would Raian give the last prize to me?"

"Maybe because you were being such a baby," I said with a roll of my eyes. "I mean, honestly, you just **had** to turn it into a challenge."

"Yama, I'm hurt. I was just trying to win some prizes for my best friend! Am I not allowed to do that?"

I snorted. "Whatever. Anyway, you seem to have forgotten something..." I broke into an evil grin. "Makeup time!"

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tai sat in a chair in the middle of the bathroom, eyeing me as I came towards him with the eyeliner.

"You're a bitch."

"And you're a guy who's about to be wearing eyeliner." I took hold of Tai's face with one hand, holding it still while I began to apply the eyeliner with the other. Tai wrinkled his nose and I stopped.

"Tai, don't move! You'll ruin it."

Tai let out a heavy sigh, but obeyed and tried to stay still. However, the angle I was applying the eyeliner at was sort of awkward and difficult. I stepped back for a moment and chewed my lip thoughtfully, then came up with the solution.

"Don't freak out or anything," I warned Tai, then sat myself down on his lap.

Tai's eyes widened a bit. "What the fuck, Yama?"

I rolled my eyes. "Calm down. It's just easier for me to put it on this way. Now hold still."

Tai stayed still, but he was stiff and it was creating an air of awkwardness around us. I sighed, stopping again.

"Tai, will you relax?"

He held up his hands in defense. "Hey, you're the one who's practically... straddling me!" His face turned red.

"Why are you acting so weird?"

Tai didn't respond, and I continued to apply the makeup regardless of how tense or uncomfortable he looked.

After about a minute, Tai began shifting around impatiently. I let out a little growl.

"Tai, stop fidgeting."

"I can't help it," he whined. "Can't you go faster?"

"Not if I want it to turn out! Stop moving!"

Tai stopped, pouting a bit. I rolled my eyes and tried to apply the eyeliner a bit faster.

Eventually I finished and got up from Tai's lap, observing him and nodding in approval.

"There. Finished."

Tai got up, slowly walking over to the mirror. "I'm scared to look."

I'd grabbed my camera from my room, and I took a quick picture of him before he could smudge it like I knew he would. He glared at me, then turned to the mirror and let out a little squawk.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

"Oh, come on, it looks good-"

"Are you kidding?" Tai began rubbing at his eyes. "I look like a freakin' drag queen!"

"Stop rubbing at it, you idiot!" I swatted Tai's hands away. "You'll just make it impossible to get off."

"Yama, take it off," Tai whined.

"It looks good."

"Well, I don't like it!"

I let out an exaggerated sigh. "Fine, fine. Don't cry about it."

After successfully removing the makeup from Tai's face, we retreated to my room where Tai challenged me to a video game duel. Of course I accepted, and we played for a while until Tai declared I was cheating because I had won and refused to play any longer.

"I'm tired," I said, crawling under the covers of my bed. I picked up a random stuffed animal that was laying beside me and shook my head, then put it back down.

"Me too," Tai admitted. "Want me to turn the lights off?"

"Yeah."

He did, then returned to the bed and laid down next to me. I rolled onto my side, getting comfortable.

"Night, Tai."

"Night, Yama. Dream of penguins rocking out."

I snorted a laugh. "Oh, I will. Good night."

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This is a long chapter because I wanted to put a lot of things into this installment, so you're gonna need a bit of time pushed aside to read this one...

**Headfirst for Halos**  
by: nEo-cHaN

I woke up the next morning feeling incredibly sore. For some reason, my muscles are always stiff and sore after a day at the amusement park; probably from being thrown around in all the rides. It sucks, but it obviously doesn't stop me from going.

"Good morning!" Tai chirped, bouncing into the room. I hadn't even noticed he was up.

I just looked at him and he chuckled.

"Not very awake, huh?"

"I can't move," I groaned, then half-heartedly glared at him. "Why aren't you sore?"

Tai shrugged and waved his hand in dismissal. "I'm used to it because of soccer." He sat on the bed next to me and patted the spot in front of him. "C'mere."

I hauled myself up and crawled over, sitting down in front of him. Tai placed his hands on my shoulders and began to rub.

Tai gives amazing massages. I take pride in knowing that I'm the only one who gets to take advantage of that fact. Tai won't give anyone else massages. Along with the other dozen things that he does exclusively for me. I'm very privileged as his best friend.

Tai pulled me closer so that I was sitting between his legs and moved the massage to my back. I closed my eyes and relaxed, letting out a little sigh.

"Feel good?" Tai asked with a little chuckle.

"Mm-hm." I arched my back a little at Tai's touch.

Tai continued to work his hands with expertise, producing warmth throughout my body and making me want to just go right back to sleep. Tai noticed I was falling asleep and laughed, poking me in my side.

"Don't fall asleep on me, Yama."

"I'm not," I insisted, then stifled a yawn.

However, I felt myself drifting off to sleep. I couldn't help it, the feeling of the massage was just so relaxing. I only returned to full consciousness when Tai stopped massaging me and moved from behind me.

I blinked in confusion, turning to look at him. "Why'd you stop?"

Tai shook his head with a snort. "You make sex noises."

"What?"

"You make sex noises!" Tai repeated himself. "Did you not hear yourself?"

"I was practically sleeping," I said sheepishly. Then, as an afterthought, "And I do not make sex noises!"

"Yes you do."

I pouted. "Well, it's not my fault. You're good at massages."

"And you're good at simulating sounds of sexual pleasure." Tai gave me a teasing grin. "Anyway, get dressed. We're going out for breakfast."

"Really now?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Get up."

So Tai and I went to a place down the street and ate breakfast there. We talked about anything random that popped up, and afterwards we found a park nearby and sat on the swings, talking some more.

"So why don't you like Raian?" I asked seemingly out of nowhere.

It caught Tai off-guard and he stuttered for an answer for a moment, then tried to avoid the question.

"What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes. "I mean, why do you act so weird when he's around and get all pissed off when he calls me?"

"I don't."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise that Tai had actually denied it. I opened my mouth to speak, but he quickly cut me off.

"Okay, fine." Tai sighed. "It's not that I don't like him or anything, it's just..." he paused for a long moment.

"It's just what?" I prompted after a few moments.

Tai sighed in frustration. "I don't know. I'm fine with him when we're with other people. But when he's around you... I don't know. It's different."

"Different like how?"

"I don't know, Yama." Tai got up off the swing. "I think my mom had a bunch of chores for me to do... I should probably get home."

I normally wouldn't let him get out of it so easily, but I was supposed to get together with the guys for band practice anyway. So we walked together until we had to split ways, making light conversation, then said goodbye and set off for our own places.

I called Hiro when I got home and he told me that apparently Shin said he was too tired to have practice and that we should call it off for another day. So I could've interrogated Tai further after all.

Which reminded me... I hadn't bothered TK yet.

I picked up the phone and dialed my brother's number. It rang once, twice...

"Hello?"

There we go. "Hey, Teeks."

"Hi, Matt. What's up?"

"Weelll..." I drew out the word. "I happened to notice that you and Dai seemed awfully close at the amusement park yesterday."

"What? No!" TK's voice wasn't very convincing.

I got the urge to roll my eyes. "Oh, please. Tell me what happened."

TK sighed. "Okay, well... I did what you said."

"I said a lot of things."

"Well, I asked Dai if he was straight."

I waited, but TK didn't continue.

"Well?" I prompted. "What did he say? Obviously you got a good response, judging by the way you two were acting."

"Um, well, that's kinda the thing. You see, Dai told me that he was 'open-minded'."

"...and?"

"And that's it."

"...what do you mean that's it?" I exclaimed.

"I mean, that's it."

"Didn't you tell him you liked him?"

"Well... yeah, but he just grinned and said something like 'you've got good taste'."

"He didn't tell you he liked you back?"

"No. He just started being all... I dunno. Doing things like putting his arm around me and stuff."

"Hm. Want me to knock some sense into him?"

"Matt!"

"Just kidding!" I defended myself. "But seriously... are you okay? I mean... that's so weird! Maybe he's playing hard-to-get or something.

"Dai, playing hard-to-get? Why would he, when he knows I like him?"

"I don't know! I'm just trying to come up with an explanation, because this makes no sense! You know what? I'm gonna tell Tai to-"

"No!" TK near-shouted. "Don't bring anyone into this! I told you I didn't want anyone involved!"

"I know, I know..."

"No, promise me! Promise you won't tell anyone!"

I crossed my fingers. "I-"

"And don't cross your fingers!"

_Damn._ I uncrossed my fingers and hesitated. "But-"

"Matt, come on! If you liked Tai, I wouldn't tell anyone!"

"Yes you would. You'd tell Kari."

TK spluttered for a moment. "Yeah, well... uh... fine, maybe I would. But I wouldn't try to meddle in your love life!"

I snorted. "Are you kidding? You and Kari? Face it, Teeks, you'd do the same if you were in my situation."

He sighed in defeat. "...just don't do anything embarrassing, okay?"

"Got it! Talk to you later, little bro, I suddenly have some phone calls to make!"

"Matt-!"

I hung up and grinned to myself. Oh well, he'd thank me sooner or later.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Hello?"

"Hi, Tai!" I chirped. "So, I've got a mission for you."

"Uh oh."

"Trust me, you'll like this one. It involves prying for information from Dai about a crush."

"...keep going."

I grinned to myself. "Okay. So, here's the deal. TK likes Dai. Dai says he's 'open-minded'- which means, in any case, that he's not straight. So TK told Dai that he likes him, and Dai didn't do anything."

"What?"

"Exactly! Weird, right? So talk to him and find out some stuff. Hint a little. We've gotta make some sense out of this."

"Yeah. Okay, I'll do that. Oh, and I've got a surprise for you tomorrow!" Tai added excitedly.

"That's evil!" I exclaimed. "You can't tell me you have a surprise and then expect me to wait until tomorrow!"

"Oh, yes I can."

"That's not fair!" I whined.

Tai laughed. "Too bad. You'll see tomorrow morning."

"Give me a hint!"

"Nope. Be patient."

"Bastard."

"Oh, and I bought a cell phone."

"What?"

Tai laughed again. "Yup. My aunt gave me some money as a birthday gift-"

"Um... your birthday was a while ago."

"Yeah, but they never gave me gifts. So she and my uncle came today, and with the money my aunt gave me I bought a cell phone. And some other things."

"This is your rich aunt and uncle, isn't it?"

"Obviously."

"What did your uncle get you?"

"You'll see. That's the surprise."

I began brainstorming a list of things his uncle could've possibly gotten him. However, as I was contemplating the several things the surprise could be, my other line beeped.

"Oh, hold on a sec, Tai."

I switched to the other line. "Hello?"

"Hey!" It was Raian.

"Oh, hi! What's up?"

"Actually, I was just calling to ask you if I could have Tai's number. You know, for future reference with soccer practices and everything."

"Sure. I'm on the other line with him right now, though, so I could ask him whatever it is you need to ask."

"Oh, no, it's okay. I mean, I don't have anything in particular right now that I need to know. It's just in case."

I gave Raian Tai's phone number, said bye, then went back to the other line.

"Tai?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, hi."

"Who was it?"

I fought back the urge to sigh. Not this again.

"Raian."

"Oh."

This reminded me of the conversation Tai and I had been having at the park earlier. Tai seemingly remembered at the same time.

"Weren't you supposed to go to band practice?"

"Hiro told me Shin cancelled it. So, picking up where we left off... how is it different when Raian's with me instead of other people?"

Tai let out a sigh of frustration. "I told you I don't know, Yama. Don't push it."

When Tai speaks in that tone, I know I should let it go. But this jealousy thing was kind of starting to worry me. Why did Tai feel that was Raian such a threat? All I wanted was to assure Tai that Raian could never take his place. But if I came out and said that, I'd sound stupid- especially if that wasn't the reason that Tai was acting so weird.

So I dropped it for the time being and we talked for a little while longer, then got off the phone. Eri ended up coming over to my place and we hung out for most of the day. It took my mind off of thinking about the "surprise" Tai had.

But when I woke up Monday morning, I was once again anxious to find out what it was. I got ready quickly, eager, and waited. By the time Tai arrived-which was later than usual-, I was ready to burst.

"Well?" I exclaimed as he walked in.

Tai just grinned. "Come on, let's go."

"Where's the surprise?"

"Come on."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but walked out of the apartment. Tai locked the door and threw my keys to me as usual, then we started down the hallway.

"You're a bastard," I muttered as we stepped into the elevator. I raised my voice to add, "and we're gonna be late."

"Oh, I highly doubt that," Tai said with a smirk, leading the way through the lobby and out of the building.

I had opened my mouth to tell him that he was crazy when we reached outside and Tai stopped after a few steps. I bumped into him and gave him a "what the fuck" look, then glanced to see what was stopping him. A car. So what? He was acting like we couldn't just go around it-

Suddenly it clicked.

"Oh my god!"

Tai laughed as I practically jumped on him in excitement. I babbled on incoherently for a few minutes, then tried to calm down.

"Oh my god. You got a car. I can't believe it."

"Isn't it fucking amazing?"

I held back the urge to give a very high-pitched squeal. "Yes!"

It was a brand new, bright yellow sports car and looked like it had cost a fortune. I was surprised Tai had been able to keep the surprise from me- I could only imagine his reaction when his uncle had given it to him.

Still grinning widely, Tai opened the passenger door for me and gave an exaggerated gesture for me to get in. I jumped in the car and began checking out the interior in awe, oohing and aahing. Tai shut my door for me and went over to his side, then got in as well.

"Beautiful," he sighed, patting the dashboard.

"You're so fucking lucky."

"Yeah, well, I get the feeling you'll be in this car just about as much as me."

I laughed. "That's true." I grinned brightly. "Now you can drive me around!"

Tai rolled his eyes, but grinned and then focused his attention on the steering wheel.

"Alright, here we go!" He paused. "...you might wanna hold on to something."

I think it only took us two minutes to get to the school, literally. I had to wonder how we'd gotten there alive. I gaped at Tai when we arrived and he burst into laughter at the look on my face.

"You're gonna fucking kill us!" I exclaimed, slapping him on the shoulder. "Don't drive like that!"

Still laughing, Tai ruffled my hair a bit- then smoothed it back down, knowing I'd kick his ass if he didn't. "Ah, don't worry, I'm a great driver."

"My ass." I got out of the car, admired it again, then began towards the school building. Tai said goodbye to his car- yes, you heard me right- and then followed me.

Now that Tai had a car, I'd always have a ride anywhere I needed. I made a mental note to write a thank-you letter to Tai's uncle... and maybe ask him if he wanted to be my uncle, too.

By lunchtime, Tai had managed to inform everyone we knew that he had gotten a car. Yes, it was exciting and all, but it gets old hearing it for the hundredth time or so.

Halfway during lunch, Mimi was forced to cut into Tai's speech about his car. She announced, in a loud voice,

"I'm having a party this weekend!"

That effectively shut Tai up, and we all started talking about Mimi's party. Apparently it was her friend's birthday and Mimi was having the party at her house because the girl wasn't allowed to have it at her own. We didn't know the girl but we were invited because, as Mimi said, "It's my house."

At least one game of truth or dare is practically required at every party, and I knew Mimi was plotting something to do with me and Raian. She'd probably incorporate spin the bottle, too. Oh well. It would probably be somewhat amusing, and I wouldn't mind kissing Raian.

I'd been informed during the day that band practice was on for that afternoon, so after school I got Tai to drive me, Eri, Shin, and Hiro to Shin's place. The guys were very impressed by Tai's car, needless to say. Shin and Tai talked for at least ten minutes about cars and car accessories.

Band practice that day resulted in a whole new song being formed. Hiro had something he wanted to try out, then I found something to go with it, then Shin joined in and Eri too and I improvised some lyrics. It turned out pretty well. Also, Shin told us that we might be able to get a gig opening for a band his cousin knew.

I had gotten home and had just stepped out of the shower when the doorbell rang. Debating whether to hurry and throw on some clothes or just put on a robe and answer the door, I called out, "Who is it?"

"Me!" came the reply.

Tai. I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed down the hall to answer the door.

"Hey," Tai said, then took another look at me and blinked. "Oh. Um... were you in the shower?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I just decided to walk around in a towel."

Tai made a face at me and I pulled him inside, shutting the door behind him and locking it.

"What's up?" I asked him as I walked down the hall to my bedroom.

"Well," Tai started, following me, "I found out some very interesting information."

"Oh really?" I began rummaging through my drawers for some clothes. "What's that?"

"I was talking to Daisuke earlier"-that got my attention-"and it turns out that he does want to go out with TK."

"So what's the problem?"

Tai sat down on my bed. "One of Raian's sisters likes him and he doesn't know how to turn her down without hurting her. And going out with TK wouldn't exactly help him do that."

"That's no excuse; he has to tell her sooner or later. He's gotta just get it over with." I removed my towel and began dressing.

"That's what I told hi-" Tai's voice went a bit high and he suddenly broke off. I turned to look at him and he was staring in another direction, his face red.

I frowned, confused, and followed his gaze. He was staring at my wall.

"...Tai?"

"Uh-huh?" His voice sounded funny.

I finished pulling on my pants. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Tai risked a glance at me, then seemed relieved for some reason and turned back to face me. I stared at him for a moment, then shook my head and dismissed it.

"So what were you saying?" I asked him, pulling on my shirt.

"Oh... um..." Tai snapped his fingers. "Right. I told him he had to just do it, and he said he was waiting for the right opportunity."

"Which is when?"

"I dunno. But the good news is, he does like your brother."

"Well, TK should be glad to hear that." I plugged in the blowdryer and began tending to my hair.

"Oh God," Tai muttered, laying down on my bed. "This is gonna take a while..."

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tai updated me on the Daisuke situation on a day-to-day basis for the next few days. And finally, on Thursday, Dai worked up the guts to pull Raegan aside and talk to her.

Dai told Tai all about it and how it had gone, so of course I heard about it afterwards. Apparently Raegan had been very understanding and nice about it. Dai had even gone so far to tell her about TK, which might have helped in why she took it so lightly. Most girls have a soft spot for gay guys.

I might've advised Dai to wait until at least the next day, but I guess in the end it doesn't matter. On that same day, he asked TK out. Needless to say, TK was flustered and surprised but Dai explained everything and-of course-TK said yes.

Their first "official" date was Friday night-they were going to miss out on Mimi's party-, and I was at Tai's place; hanging out with him a bit before the party. We happened to have an unexpected visitor.

The doorbell rang and Tai got up to answer it. It took a minute or two, but finally he returned with Daisuke.

"Dai says he needs advice," Tai explained, sitting down on the couch. Daisuke sat down also and Tai raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Okay. Um... actually, I wanted to just talk to you alone about this, Tai-"

I opened my mouth to tell him that I could leave if they wanted privacy, but Daisuke hurried on.

"No, no, it's okay. It's better this way, to have two people instead of one." Daisuke took a deep breath. "Okay. Promise not to laugh?"

We both nodded.

"...I need to learn how to kiss."

Despite our promises, we both burst into laughter.

"Guys!" Daisuke whined, his face turning red. "Stop it, it's not funny!" He folded his arms across his chest and glared at us.

We tried to hold back our laughter, but we just ended up laughing more.

"I'm sorry, Dai," Tai apologized between fits of laughter. "It's just... haha... oh man..."

It took us quite a few moments to compose ourselves, but we did eventually.

"Alright," Tai said, swallowing the last of his laughter. "So let me get this straight. You want me-sorry, us-to teach you how to kiss?" He couldn't help but smirk.

Dai's blush deepened and he stuttered for a few moments, then managed part of a coherent sentence. "I just don't want TK to.. to..."

"To think you're a bad kisser?" I finished, grinning.

Dai shot me a dirty look, and I held my hands up in defense. He sighed.

"I just don't want to..." he searched for the words. "...to disappoint him."

Tai held up his hand. "Alright, alright. Say no more." He stroked his chin in thought. "Hmm. Kissing isn't something you can really teach. It just comes to you with experience. And unless you feel like calling someone up and practicing on them, which I doubt you do..."

"But I don't know the first thing about kissing!" Dai pleaded. "If TK tries to kiss me, or if he expects me to kiss him, I don't know what I'll do!"

Tai appeared to be thinking for several moments. Then he turned to me, looking kind of skeptical.

"I **can** think of **some**thing that might help," he said slowly.

"What?" Dai asked.

"Well..." Tai trailed off and sighed. "I dunno, Dai-"

"Please, Tai!" Daisuke pleaded.

Tai let out another sigh, this time of defeat. "Okay." He turned to me. "I'm gonna need your co-operation."

I shrugged. "Sure. With what?"

"We're gonna give Dai a demonstration."

"Of a kiss? Sure." I didn't see the big deal.

"Okay." Tai motioned for me to come over to him and I did, seating myself beside him. Tai moved himself and me so that we were in such a position that Dai would be able to see clearly, then leaned in. However, he stopped before our lips met and hesitated, biting his own lip.

"Problem?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, eyes flicking to Daisuke who was anxiously waiting.

"It's just... I dunno, maybe we should just-"

I rolled my eyes and cut him off. "Tai, will you fucking kiss me already?"

Tai's face turned a bit red, but he met my lips in a kiss. We kissed for long enough to give Dai a fairly good idea, then broke apart and looked at Daisuke for a reaction. His eyes were wide and he looked sort of frightened.

"I'm never gonna be able to do that!" he said in a panicky voice.

"Oh, don't worry," I said with a roll of my eyes. "You'll get the hang of it."

"When?"

"With time. Now, where are you two supposed to meet?"

Dai told us the place, and Tai offered to drive him there since it was on the way to Mimi's house. We got ready and left, dropped Daisuke off, and then wasted some time so that we wouldn't be the first to arrive at the party. Normally we wouldn't care, but we didn't want to be stuck in an awkward situation with Mimi's other friends. The more people there were, the less awkward it would be.

Luckily when we showed up, several people had already arrived; including Sora, Kou, and Jyou. Shin and Raian were also coming to the party, but Eri and Hiro weren't; Eri had cousins visiting so he couldn't come, and Hiro just wasn't feeling up to it.

Shin always makes an entrance wherever he goes, so it was easy to tell when he arrived.

"Mimi, baby!" he exclaimed when he walked in the door, wrapping her in a big hug and swinging her around. She laughed and greeted him, then pointed him towards us. He said hi to various people on his way-he gets around, if you know what I mean-and then reached us with a big grin. In contrast, Raian made a more subtle entrance.

I was looking around the room casually, and then I saw Mimi head towards the door with a big smile. I followed her gaze to see Raian standing there, a slightly shy smile on his face. He apologized to Mimi for being late and she rolled her eyes and told him not to be silly, then turned to point him in our direction.

Raian headed over, and I have to say that he looked hotter than usual. He was wearing relatively tight black pants and a nice shirt that suited him well and showed off his body. His hair was perfect and he had a cute smile on his face.

Many girls and guys said hi to him as he passed them, and he smiled and nodded at them but looked extremely relieved once he found us.

"Hi, guys," he said, flashing a grin.

We all greeted him and I saw Mimi wink at me from across the room, then gesture to Raian and pretend to fan herself. I nearly laughed out loud, but instead grinned at her and nodded my agreement.

We couldn't keep track of Shin, Tai mingled a bit since a few of the guys there knew him, and some girls came up to try and pull Raian away. However, Raian would just smile forcedly at them and make up an excuse, then breath a sigh of relief once they were gone. They were really annoying.

Partway through the night, Mimi gathered our group and motioned for us to come with her. We followed her upstairs and to her room, where she closed the door behind us and gestured for us to sit on the floor.

"It's truth-or-dare time," she said with a grin.

"Oh boy," Tai said with a roll of his eyes. "How did I not see this coming?"

"Um, are you sure you should leave the party like that?" Jyou asked. "I mean, you're the hostess."

"Oh, don't worry," Mimi said with a wave of her hand. "It's not like I have to be there; Michelle's the birthday girl. She'll take care of everything." Mimi sat down in the circle we'd formed and clapped her hands together. "Alright! Who's first?"

"I'll go!" Shin volunteered. He scanned over all of us, then grinned. "Okay, I pick Sora."

The game started off with a lot of silly truths and stupid, pointless dares. But then it started advancing.

It was Mimi's turn. She turned to me when it was her turn with an evil gleam in her eye. Then she looked away, concealing her grin.

"Raian," she said. "Truth or dare?"

"I think I'll go with dare," Raian chose.

"Perfect." Mimi grinned widely. "I dare you to kiss Matt."

Now, we have a rule about kisses in truth or dare. They're always on the lips, they have to last for at least ten seconds, and the time doubles if you're dared to kiss that same person again. Also, if the kiss isn't done properly, you have to do it over again.

Mimi explained to Raian our few unofficial yet official rules about kissing in Truth or Dare, then added that our kiss had to include tongue, which I'd expected. Raian nodded and then moved over to me, giving me a little smile before taking me into a kiss.

He was a very good kisser. After what really didn't seem like ten seconds, Tai called out, "Time's up!"

Raian either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him, continuing the kiss. I didn't protest, and I heard Mimi giggle and say something that I didn't quite catch. Shin gave a catcall.

We kissed for a time well past ten seconds, and it may have gone into some sort of light make-out session if Tai didn't pipe up again.

"We don't have all day," he said loudly. "Either get a room or stop sucking each other's faces off."

I broke the kiss, startled, and looked at Tai in confusion. His eyes were narrowed and he was frowning, and he looked very pissed off. What the fuck was his problem?

Raian ignored Tai's little outburst, just giving a little cough and then resuming the game. But I continued to hold Tai's gaze, narrowing my own eyes. He looked away from me, still frowning, and I made a mental note to talk to him later. I had a feeling Mimi was also going to have a chat with him, considering the glare she was shooting him.

Only a few minutes later, it happened to get around to Shin again. He pretended to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "Hm... alright. Yagami, pick your poison."

"Dare, drummer-boy."

"Wonderful." Shin smirked. "I dare you to kiss Ishida."

"Fine, steal my dare!" Mimi pretended to be hurt.

Shin stuck his tongue out at her, then turned back to us. Tai had moved over to me without a word and had a hand on my shoulder.

"Someone time it," Shin said. "Alright... go!"

I was completely taken aback when Tai pressed his lips to mine almost forcefully. After the initial shock, I kissed back, but not with the force that he was. The kiss was stealing my breath away rapidly and I started to get light-headed, but didn't break it.

I counted in my head as Tai and I kissed. What I found amusing was that it was the second time that day we'd had to kiss. However, the earlier kiss had been much different. The ten-second mark passed, according to my own counting, and Tai still hadn't pulled away. I didn't either, confused and not wanting to be the first to break the kiss.

I was surprised when Tai tried to prod my lips open with his tongue. First of all, we'd already successfully completed the dare so there wasn't need to go further. Second of all, Shin hadn't specified whether we had to use tongue or not- which I was surprised about. Usually he goes all out and makes the dare as evil as possible. The point was, though, Tai had no need to carry on with the kiss.

Oh, and I'd almost forgotten the third point: I was the gay one, not Tai, and as long as I've known him he's never openly expressed a desire to kiss me or any other member of the male sex.

But, seeing as he was at this moment, I allowed him access and he slid his tongue inside of my mouth. I could hear the others making comments, but paid no attention to what they were actually saying.

Finally Tai pulled away, leaving me dazed and breathless. I was breathing heavily and blinked a few times to help shake off the dizzy feeling that the kiss had left me with. Stunned and bewildered, I looked at Tai to possibly get an explanation. However, he was ignoring the look I was giving him. I frowned a bit, wondering what the hell was going on and what had gotten into him.

"Well then," Shin said with his eyebrow raised. "That was... interesting."

I decided to laugh and make a joke out of it, while Tai pretty much ignored Shin's comment and chose Mimi as his victim. Once she'd completed her dare, she then turned to Raian.

"Raian, truth or dare?" she asked.

"Truth," Raian picked.

"Chicken," Shin teased.

"I have your truth," Mimi said, ignoring Shin. She grinned at Raian. "So you like anyone and, if so, who?"

Oh boy. I nearly rolled my eyes at Mimi's blatant attempt to get Raian and I together. Honestly, Mimi needs a new hobby.

Raian blushed a bit. "Um... well, actually..."

"Spit it out!" Mimi said impatiently.

"I like Tai."

There was a stunned silence, then:

"What?"

Mimi looked utterly shocked. Tai, too. Most of the people in the circle looked surprised. I, myself, was also very surprised. Raian liked Tai? Not me?

Raian met Tai's eyes timidly. Tai was staring at him wide-eyed, still in shock.

"You don't like Matt?" Mimi asked in disbelief.

Raian shook his head. "No. I mean, you're great as a friend," he said to me. "And it's not like I'd mind going out with you, but... well, I'm just more attracted to Tai."

I wanted to laugh in Mimi's face, but instead I just nodded. Tai finally snapped out of his stupor and spoke.

"Um... whoa. I mean... wow. Wait... then how come you were... you know... calling Yama so much, and winning that stuff for him at the amusement park, and... that kind of stuff?"

"This is probably going to sound horrible," Raian said, looking ashamed, "but I did all that stuff to try and win Matt over so that I could get closer to you."

I started to laugh. "Oh, man... that's great."

"You're not mad?" Raian asked.

I snorted. "Me? No way!"

"I'm sorry, man," Tai said to Raian a bit awkwardly. "I'm not gay. Or bi or anything."

"You're not?" Raian actually looked surprised.

"No." Tai frowned. "You thought I was?"

"Well, yeah! I mean... if anything, I thought-..." Raian trailed off.

"You thought what?" Shin prompted him.

"Well..." Raian looked between me and Tai. "I thought you two were going out or something."

Almost everyone started laughing. Personally, I found it hilarious that Raian had thought Tai and I were a couple- or, for that matter, that he'd thought Tai was gay or bi.

The rest of the game continued on a lighter note. Tai seemed a lot more calm, which I was thankful for. Our group (except for Shin) left Mimi's party earlier than everyone else, but Mimi didn't mind; she knew it wasn't our kind of crowd. She just told us happily that she was glad we'd come and that she'd see us all Monday.

Tai and I-well, Tai, technically-drove Sora, Kou, Raian and Jyou home (we squished them all in the back). We had to convince Jyou that we weren't going to get busted for cramming them all in the back and that we weren't going to get into an accident and kill them all, but he finally just got in the car. Luckily, Tai didn't drive in his usual maniacal way.

On the way to my place-Tai was going to sleep over-, he suggested that we rent a movie. I agreed and we stopped at the video store. Our choice ended up being some horror movie that we both hadn't seen. Yes, a horror- I can't help it, I love and hate them at the same time.

Tai and I arrived at my apartment, changed into more comfortable clothes, stole the DVD player from the living room, then put in the movie. Tai shut the door and turned off the lights, then joined me where I was sitting cross-legged on my bed. I was already under the covers, feeling safer that way, and Tai laughed at me. I stuck my tongue out at him, then focused my attention on the screen.

The movie was, in truth, not that scary- but somehow, my mind manages to make it worse than it actually is. Shortly after the movie started, I was already clutching Tai's arm.

Tai chuckled and shook his head. "It's just a movie, you know."

I opened my mouth to respond, but a scary scene came on at that moment and I let out a mix between a gasp, a scream, and a squeak. Tai pried my fingernails out of his arm and took my hand in his instead.

"I think my hand can handle the squeezing more than my arm," he said with a little grin.

I nodded absently and inched closer to Tai. He let go of my hand briefly, put that arm around my shoulder, and gave me his other hand instead. It made me feel safer, which was good because the next scene was absolutely terrifying.

Halfway through the movie, the door to my room began opening and I screamed. My dad entered the room and gave me a strange look, and Tai cracked up. I blushed and tried to explain or make up an excuse, but my dad just shook his head and walked out of the room. I heard him let out a little laugh as he left. Tai was laughing for a long while after that.

The movie continued to scare the shit out of me. At one particular point, I just knew that something scary was going to pop up on the screen. I squeezed Tai's hand as tight as I could and sat with my face halfly turned away from the screen, cringing and repeating "Oh my God" over and over again.

My fear was legitimate; seconds later came the scariest point in the movie. I completely freaked out and latched onto Tai, burying my face in his shoulder. My heart was thumping and I tightened my grip on his hand, squeezing it so hard that it probably lost feeling.

Tai's other hand moved to my back and he rubbed it soothingly. I turned my head back towards the screen, cheek still resting against Tai's shoulder, and he bent down to lightly kiss my forehead. For the rest of the movie, we remained in that position.

As the credits rolled at the end of the movie, I let go of Tai's hand and sat up a bit, giving him a little smile.

"Thanks."

Tai just ruffled my hair, put the movie back in its case, and flipped to a random TV channel to get rid of the sort of "scary" mood. Still smiling, I leaned back against Tai and rested my head on his shoulder. I made a mental note to call Raian the next day; I had some things I wanted to discuss with him.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tai woke me up the next morning to tell me that he had to leave.

"Supposedly one of our cousins slept over with Kari last night, and she needs to get home to go to church or something. And since I got this car, I've become the new chauffeur. Not that I mind. So I just wanted to let you know, y'know? In case you woke up and thought I just randomly left you."

I nodded.

"I don't wanna leave you here alone, though," Tai added. "I mean, y'know, because of the movie and all... do you wanna come?"

I thought about it. I would probably be scared without Tai there, he was right, but I was really tired and didn't feel like getting out of bed. So I shook my head no.

"It's okay."

Tai hesitated before leaving, though, biting his lip and looking almost guilty.

"I could call them back, y'know... tell them I can't-"

"It's okay, Tai, really." I gave him a little smile. "Honestly."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Tai sighed. "Okay. If you need anything, call me."

"Okay."

I waited for Tai to leave, but he remained in the same spot, looking torn between staying and leaving.

"Tai!" I half-exclaimed, unable to keep myself from laughing. "Go already!"

"Okay, okay!" he broke into a grin also, but got up. "You're gonna need to lock the door behind me, though."

"...don't you have a key?"

"Nope."

"Weird. You should. I swear we gave one to you awhile ago. Just take my key."

"What if you need it later?"

"We have a spare. I'll use that one."

"Okay." Tai found my key and then gave me a little wave from the doorway. "I'll call you."

"Bye."

"Bye." He finally left the room, and a few moments later I heard the front door shut and the lock turn. Then I curled back up into a ball and shut my eyes, waiting for sleep to take me again.

Luckily the movie had been the kind of 'scary' that doesn't stick with you for long, otherwise I would've had to go with Tai whether I was tired or not. Tai called me a few times while I was still asleep to check up on me. I called him back once I woke up and told him that I was fine. Then I called Raian.

After two rings, he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Raian? It's Matt."

"Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Nothing, really. I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"Well..." I tried to phrase it as best as I could. "...what do you see in Tai?"

There was silence for a moment, then he laughed. "What?"

"Why do you like Tai? I know it sounds weird, but I just want to try and see him the way you do. It interests me."

Raian laughed again. "Um, well... Tai's a nice guy. Obviously there's his physical features, but he's got a great personality too. You can tell he'd be a sweet boyfriend just by the way he acts with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're his best friend and he treats you so well. So it makes sense to assume that he'd treat someone he's dating somewhat like he treats you." Raian paused. "Although I don't think he'd treat them as good as he treats you. You guys really have something special. I envy you, and not just because I like Tai." He hesitated before adding, "Y'know... ideally, you'd be the perfect couple."

My conversation with Raian made me think. He was right; Tai was essentially the perfect boyfriend. I was beginning to see what other people saw in Tai, and I was realizing that I took him extremely for granted. There couldn't be a better best friend than Tai.

All of this made it easier to think of Tai as not just a friend, but a potential boyfriend. I have to admit, our kiss during truth or dare helped open my eyes to these thoughts. I was kind of disappointed that I could visualize it-part of what made our friendship special was that it was just that, a friendship- but it also gave me a sort of warm feeling. It's funny how your view of someone can change once you see them from another person's perspective.

I wondered if Tai could think of me that way. I hadn't thought so, but the kiss had made me believe otherwise. However, I still doubted it. After all, Tai was straight. And although I know that it's normal for straight guys to at least have one or some "gay" thoughts about their best friends or acquaintances, it just didn't seem like it would evolve into anything more with Tai.

Some time after I got off of the phone with Raian, I received a phone call from TK. I'd forgotten to call him for details about his big date.

"How'd it go?" I asked eagerly after we said hello to each other.

TK paused. "Well... it kind of depends on how you look at it."

Uh oh. "What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.

"The date itself was a disaster. Somehow everything went wrong, things were awkward, you name it. Then me and Dai both just started laughing, because there was some kind of humor in the whole thing. Plus we were both nervous beyond belief. So then we relaxed and realized that we didn't need some big formal date. We decided to just hang out instead. Dai and I agreed that this will work better if it's more of a casual relationship. So really, it went kind of well I guess. We're gonna stick to places like the movies and stuff from now on."

I was glad to hear that things were gonna be okay with him and Dai, and I stayed on the phone with TK for about an hour, just talking about anything that came to mind. I told him stories about the party and he elaborated more on his date. He also mentioned that the upcoming weekend was a long one and that we should all do something. I told him I'd talk to everyone and get some ideas.

Tai spoke with Daisuke that same day and called me later on to tell me what Dai had said; which was basically the same thing as TK had told me. Daisuke also added in the fact that they hadn't kissed yet, so he was still worried about their first kiss.

On Monday, Sora suggested that we go to the beach on the long weekend. After all, it was almost June and it was warm enough to go to the beach. We passed the idea around and everyone seemed to like it, so the plans were made for Sunday seeing as we had the following Monday-June 1st, coincidentally-off of school.

I woke up on Tuesday feeling... not specifically ill, but not well. I didn't want to go to school. For that reason, I decided to stay in bed. Unfortunately, I forgot about Tai.

I had almost fallen back to sleep when I heard the front door open and then shut. A few moments later, Tai's voice rang out.

"Yama?"

With a small groan, I buried my face in my pillow. I heard Tai's footsteps and when they ceased, I knew he was standing in my doorway.

"What are you doing in bed?" he exclaimed. "Get up!"

"I don't wanna," I mumbled.

Tai gave an exasperated sigh and came over to the bed, throwing the covers off of me. I whimpered and curled into a ball.

"Yama, you're being ridiculous. Get up."

"I'm tired," I whined.

"Yama, come on. Don't make me do this the hard way."

I didn't respond, and he spoke again.

"Alright, you give me no choice."

I heard Tai's footsteps head across the room and glanced up from the pillow, curious. He was taking out my school clothes. But why...?

I half-squeaked, half-giggled when Tai tackled me.

"Get off!" I shrieked.

"Nope." Tai pinned me down and began to dress me, putting my pants on.

He brushed a ticklish spot and I burst into a fit a giggles, squirming. Tai broke into a grin and purposely let his fingers drift over the spot again. I slapped his hand away, sticking my tongue out at him.

"Leave me alone," I tried to protest, but a giggle escaped and made my words a lot less serious.

"Nope. You're coming to school." Tai did my pants up for me, then moved so that he was pinning my lower body down and began to tug my shirt up. I fought him off for a moment or two, then gave in.

Tai replaced my shirt with the shirt for school, buttoned it up, then raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well?"

"Fine," I groaned, mock-glaring at him. "I'll come to school, you bastard."

"Good." Tai got off of me and held out his hand to help me out of bed. I accepted it and got up, heading towards the bathroom.

"We're gonna be late," Tai said. "Especially if you start doing your hair."

"Oh, shut up. If you really cared about being late, you'd have left me alone and gone to school."

Tai stuck his tongue out at me in response.

It was kind of strange. When Tai had been on top of me, like that... I'd wanted to stay in that position. Just laying there with him. It was comforting, somehow. I wanted to just forget about school and play around with Tai like we had been. Not to mention the fact that the action of him dressing me was beyond cute.

At lunch, Tai informed me of some interesting information while Dai was busy talking to someone else. Apparently he and TK had finally kissed. And according to Dai, it had been awkward and embarrassing, but still good. I talked to TK after school and brought it up... meaning I teased him as much as I could.

The week flew by. I had band practice with the guys on Friday, and Tai and Raian had soccer. After I was done with the guys, I went home and showered and then Raian called. We talked for a while, until my doorbell rang.

"Hold on," I told Raian and put the phone down. I went to the door and opened it to find none other than Tai. And he had a bag with him.

I raised an eyebrow. "Hi?"

"Hi." Tai stepped in and shut the door, locking it. He flashed me a grin. "I'm sleeping over."

I rolled my eyes. "Just gimme a sec. I'm on the phone with Raian."

To my surprise, Tai just nodded and bounced off towards my room. I stared after him for a moment, then shook my head and went back to the phone.

"Sorry," I said, picking up the phone again. "Tai's over, I should probably go."

"That's okay," Raian said. "I'll see you on Sunday."

"Yup. See you."

After wrapping up the conversation, I went to my room to join Tai. He was sitting at my computer, typing away.

I came up behind him and leaned on the back of the chair.

"So," I said, "any particular reason you're suddenly okay with me talking to Raian?"

"Nope."

Alright, so he didn't want to tell me. Fine. As long as he wasn't jealous anymore.

...okay, so it kind of disappointed me. But whatever.

When we got into bed that night, I could tell something was a bit strange with Tai. After about five minutes of laying there, I found out why.

I was laying with my back facing him when his arms wrapped around my middle and he rested his chin on my shoulder, moving up against me. I waited for him to say something and, when he didn't, I spoke.

"What do you want?" I said, slightly annoyed.

"Nothing," Tai replied casually.

I glared into the darkness of my room. "Then get off of me."

I could almost feel Tai pouting. "But Yama... I need to cuddle something."

With a sigh, I prepared for a story. "Why?"

"Well..." Tai paused, and then gave a little sheepish laugh. "Um, I kinda started sleeping with Otamay, and-"

"Wait a minute. Who?"

"Otamay. The teddy bear Raian gave me. I started sleeping with it, and-"

"Hold on. Otamay?" I shook my head slowly. "Tai... is that my name spelled backwards?"

"No. Well... yes. Shut up! I happen to think it's a good name! Anyway, I started sleeping with it and now I can't sleep if I'm not holding something."

"Why are you sleeping with the bear Raian gave you anyway?" I asked irritably.

"I dunno, why not?" Tai responded.

I frowned, feeling a bit pissed off for no reason. "Whatever."

There was silence, then Tai prodded my side.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Shut up, Tai. I'm tired."

"Yamaa," Tai whined, poking me again. "Come on. What did I do? Or say?"

"Nothing! Shut up and go to sleep! I'm not mad at you, okay?"

Tai went quiet and I closed my eyes again. He tentatively tightened his arms around my waist and cuddled closer, making me tense up a bit instinctively.

He spoke again eventually, in a soft voice.

"Good night, Yama."

I let out a sigh. "Good night, Tai."

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

_Tai came towards me, his eyes filled with raw lust. In one swift motion he had me pinned beneath him on the bed and captured my lips, lacing the kiss with passion. His hand traveled sensually over my arm, then my chest, and he followed the path with his lips, flicking his tongue out as he passed over a nipple. I moaned, nails digging into Tai's back. He teased and sucked at the nipple, sending blood rushing to my groin at an impossible speed._

_Suddenly he was caressing my thighs, and then kissing his way up my legs. He sucked at a soft spot on the inside of my thigh, making me whimper._

_"Please, Tai," I whispered._

_He looked up at me, eyes dark with a feeling I couldn't identify._

_"As you wish," he replied._

_I was trembling as Tai kissed the tip of my erection and then placed his mouth over it, overcome with a mix of emotions. He darted his tongue out to swirl around the skin and I groaned, biting my lip._

_"Oh, Tai..."_

_Tai took more of me into his mouth, sending my heart skyrocketing. I moaned loudly as he pleasured me, gripping strands of his hair with my fingers._

_"Tai," I moaned. "Oh God, Tai..."_

_With a small whimper from me, Tai released my arousal from his mouth. He gave me a seductive smile, stroking me with one hand._

_"Do you want me to fuck you?"_

_This made me impossibly harder, and I whimpered with need. "Yes... yes, Tai, please..."_

_Tai moved up, taking my lips into another kiss. I responded eagerly, greedily; I wanted-no, _**_needed_**_-more._

_Tai seemed to understand this and he pulled my legs up around his waist, getting into position. I waited impatiently with great anticipation, meeting Tai's eyes at the last second._

_He smiled at me and then-_

I awoke with a start, pulse racing. My heart was beating rapidly and I could hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears. What the hell had just happened?

There was an insistent throbbing between my legs and I looked down to find that, one; I was still somewhat hard. Two; my boxers and the bed sheets were damp.

_Oh shit._ Realization dawned on me and I began to feel sort of sick.

I'd just had a wet dream about Tai.

Of course, to make things worse than they already were, Tai stirred beside me. His arms were still wrapped around my waist, and I tensed. What if he moved his arms and felt... well, something that I didn't want him to feel?

_Please don't tell me I was moaning in my sleep,_ I begged no one in particular. _Please, _**_please_**_ say Tai didn't hear me-_

"Yama?" Tai murmured tiredly.

My pulse sped up again and I tried to wriggle out of Tai's grasp. He didn't let go of me and I panicked, prying his arms from around my waist and scrambling to sit up. With my back still facing him, of course; if he saw my condition, it was over.

"Yama, what the... what's wrong?" Tai's hand touched my shoulder.

I jerked away. "Don't touch me!" I snapped, then winced at the harshness of my voice.

Tai was silent for a few moments. I suddenly remembered that there was evidence of my actions. Oh, shit. Well, it was dark. Maybe he wouldn't-

"Yama?" Tai's voice sounded funny. "Why are the sheets wet?"

Game over. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, praying that he wouldn't clue in.

"Wait a minute." I heard Tai sit up, and a hint of amusement entered his tone. "Yama, did you-"

"Shut up."

Tai let out a little snicker. "You did, didn't you?"

"God, shut up!" I closed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair, a burning sensation in my cheeks. This was so humiliating.

Tai started laughing, and I felt a flash of anger. This was so unfair. How would he feel if he had that kind of dream while I was in bed with him? God, he was such a fucking asshole.

"I'm sorry," Tai said, still laughing. "I just... God, Yama..."

I stood abruptly, making my way to the bathroom. Tai called my name as I left, but I ignored him.

Once I'd shut myself in the bathroom, I let out a shaky breath and blinked back hot tears. Of all the things to happen... God, why? Why that night, of all nights? It wasn't fair.

And of course, Tai just had to wake up and notice. At that moment, I hated him for being the kind of sleeper he was. Why the hell did such small noises wake him up anyway?

I fixed my little situation and then took a deep breath before I headed back into my room. Tai had gotten up and changed the sheets, and he gave me a little grin when I entered the room. I didn't return it, turning my back to him as I changed into a clean pair of boxers.

"Oh, come on," Tai said with exasperation in his voice as I laid in bed with my back to him. "Don't be like this. It's just me, Yama! So what if you had an... 'exciting' dream? It's normal. Come on, talk to me! I mean, at least tell me who it was about!"

"You."

I spoke quietly; softly and just below a whisper. There was a moment of silence.

"...what?"

I repeated myself, but didn't raise my voice.

"Oh."

There was silence again, then I heard Tai get into a laying position. A few moments later, he spoke.

"You okay?"

I didn't answer.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tai left my house pretty early the next morning. It was my fault; I was moody and not a lot of fun to be around. But I couldn't help it after what had happened the previous night.

I didn't speak to Tai at all on Saturday, and it seemed like an unspoken agreement between us that we would try to completely ignore the situation. After all, Tai had rationalized before he left on Saturday, it was natural for a guy to have a dream like that about his friend at least once. There was nothing to be ashamed of.

But I still was, especially because what had happened in the dream wouldn't be an unwanted reality.

When Tai came to pick me up on Sunday, I barely greeted him as I got into the car. I merely got in, shut the door, and mumbled a lame "hi". Tai refused to accept this as a proper greeting.

"That's it, Yama," he said, shaking his head. "This is stupid! I mean, come on! I'm your best friend. I don't care if you had a dream about me. I'm sorry I laughed. Now, stop acting like an idiot before I kick your ass."

I couldn't help but giggle. Tai looked at me expectantly, and I nodded.

"You're right, I am acting like an idiot. But how would you feel if that happened to you while I was sleeping over?"

"Pretty idiotic," Tai admitted with a laugh, "but just forget about it and have fun today. Yeah?"

"Yeah," I agreed.

We picked up a few of the others and drove to the beach. In total it was eleven of us; me, Tai, Raian, Kari, TK, Dai, Shin, Hiro, Mimi, Koushiro, and Sora. We took two cars (Tai's and Shin's), fitting five into one and squishing six in the other.

It was a beautiful day, and luckily the beach wasn't too crowded. We picked a shady spot under a tree and put all of our things there, then half of us raced to the water while the rest of us stayed to sunbathe on some towels we'd laid down.

I didn't feel like going into the water right away, so I stayed under the tree. Shin and Mimi decided that they wanted to take a paddleboat out onto the water, so they went and got one and disappeared for a length of time. Sora and Kari went for a walk on a path.

That left Koushiro, Hiro and I sitting at the towels; and Raian, TK, Dai, and Tai in the water. However, that wasn't the arrangement for long.

I eyed Tai suspiciously when he emerged from the water and jogged up to where we were sitting. He greeted us all, then grinned at me.

"Come in the water."

"No thanks."

"No, you see; that was a command, not a request."

And with that, Tai scooped me up and placed me over his shoulder. I squealed, trying to squirm out of his grasp.

"Let me go!" I exclaimed, kicking my legs and creating quite a scene. Tai just laughed and carried me into the water, throwing me in once we were deep enough in.

I surfaced, glaring daggers at Tai. He gave me an innocent look and I tackled him, pushing his head underwater. He managed to escape and came to the surface, laughing hard. Raian was watching us with a grin.

"Bastard," I muttered, giving Tai a dirty look.

He just grinned at me. I was about to say something to Raian when I noticed with a start that Tai's swimming shorts were rather low on his hips. In fact, if you asked me, they looked almost ready to fall off. I felt my face heating up as I noticed a slight trail of hair beginning near the waistband.

"Come play volleyball!" exclaimed a voice, and I snapped out of it and turned to see who was speaking. It was Shin, he and Mimi back from their adventure. He gestured down the beach a bit, and we looked to see a bunch of people playing.

"They invited us to join," Shin explained. "Come on!"

So he, Tai, Hiro, Mimi and Raian went off to play volleyball while I went back to the towels to join Koushiro. TK and Dai wandered off somewhere, and Kari and Sora returned shortly after. Kari went to join the volleyball game and Sora stayed with Koushiro and I.

When TK and Dai returned, I asked Sora to come for a walk with me. I needed to talk to someone, badly.

So she and I went on a different path than she and Kari had taken, and I began to explain.

"You know that game of truth or dare last weekend?" I asked her.

Sora nodded.

"Well, I'm sure you noticed that the kiss between me and Tai was... well... anything but..." I searched for the word. "...chaste."

She nodded again.

"The thing is..." I sighed, staring up at the sky. "Okay. I called Raian and I asked him why he liked Tai. I was curious, y'know? I wanted to see Tai the way he saw him. The problem is that... well, now I do. And... and it's weird! And he's been doing all these things that make me feel so... I dunno... and then Friday night, it was..." I shook my head. "God! I don't know what to do! It's like..." I trailed off.

Despite my inarticulate words, Sora seemed to understand.

"Matt, I want you to just answer this one question. Are you attracted to Tai?"

"Yes." I didn't even have to think about it.

"Well, then, I think the answer is obvious; you like him."

"But I can't," I protested. "It's weird! He's Tai!"

"Exactly."

I needed a second opinion- mostly because I couldn't think of any alternative answer. So that evening, a few hours after we'd returned from the beach, I called Mimi.

Mimi wasn't surprised when I told her. She said that she knew it would happen sooner or later. She came to the same conclusion as Sora; that I liked Tai.

Which, of course, was stating the obvious. I still felt like I needed confirmation, though, not to mention some advice. So far, both girls had told me to tell him.

I hung out with Hiro, Eri, and Shin on Monday and I wound up telling them about the whole issue. My third-and fourth, and fifth-opinions were as expected.

"Go fuck him," was Shin's advice, which earned him dirty looks from us all.

Hiro was much more sensitive, taking the time to learn more about the situation and carefully analyze what was going on. But in the end, he too agreed that yes; I liked him and yes, I should tell him. Eri didn't say much but I knew he had the same opinion.

So it was decided. I had a crush on Tai and I had to tell him.

I decided to do it casually, and before I lost my nerve. So, when Tai walked into my apartment on Tuesday morning, I gathered up my nerve and got it over with.

"So," I said as I put my shoes on, trying to sound normal, "according to Hiro, Eri, Shin, Mimi, Sora, and other reliable sources; I like you."

Tai just looked at me for a second, then spoke. "Other reliable sources? Like who?"

"My penis."

"Oh." I think Tai blushed a bit.

There was silence between us as I finished putting on my shoes and waited for his reaction. However, he just stood there. After a minute, I prompted him.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Tai responded.

I was getting frustrated. "Well, what do you think?"

Tai shrugged helplessly. "I don't know!"

I sighed and stepped out the door, locking it after Tai followed me into the hall. We walked down the hall in silence, rode the elevator in silence, walked through the lobby and to Tai's car in silence. It drove me crazy.

"Goddammit, say something!" I exclaimed once we were sitting in the car, fed up. "Are you surprised? Uncomfortable? Upset?"

"I honestly don't know, Yama," Tai admitted with a shrug. "I mean... listen, I'll tell you something. I thought I had a crush on you a little while ago."

"What?"

"You know, with that whole Raian thing..." Tai met my eyes and shrugged again. "It's like that 'you don't know what you have until it's gone' sort of thing. When Raian came, I felt threatened. I thought he liked you and you liked him back, and... well, I didn't want that. I wanted you to myself."

"So what now? I mean, now that we know Raian likes you and not me...?" I trailed off.

"To tell you the truth, I don't even know if it really was a crush I had on you." Tai started the car. "But now the threat's gone. So..." he let his sentence hang.

I was disappointed by his reaction- or, really, his lack of reaction. It was disappointing. I'd expected him to be shocked and ask me a whole bunch of questions, but no; Tai had to be all casual and neutral about it. It was frustrating.

"Why did you kiss me like that?" I asked as he began to drive, voice slightly bitter. Tai caught the undertone in my voice and I looked out the window, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"You mean for the game?"

He took my silence as a yes and continued.

"I wanted Raian to know that... well... that he couldn't have you."

"Pretty fucking selfish of you," I muttered. "Especially when you didn't have me either."

"Don't take your pissy mood out on me," Tai warned me. "If you want to have a conversation, fine. Talk. But don't do..." he made a gesture with his hand. "...this."

"This?" I repeated.

"Yeah, this. Getting all moody and being mad at me because I don't... you know... return your feelings or whatever. What did you expect, Yama? I'm straight."

I didn't reply. He was right; I was acting pretty childish. Regardless, I sunk into my seat and crossed my arms over my chest, staring out the window wordlessly.

A few minutes later, at a stoplight, Tai chuckled. I turned my head to glare at him and he was grinning. He shook his head.

"You're ridiculous."

"How am I ridiculous?" I asked hotly.

Tai didn't answer, just reached over and ruffled my hair. I cursed at him and fixed my hair, shooting a dirty look in his direction. He just laughed.

When we got to school, Tai reached over and grabbed my arm before I could get out of the car. I looked at him expectantly and he smiled at me.

"You know, I actually think it's kind of cute."

He caught me off-guard. "What?"

"That you like me." Tai let go of me and grinned, then opened his door and got out. I followed suit, though I had a hard time fighting back a blush that really had no right to be there.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A/N: Well! That was fun. I'm starting on the next chapter right now, because originally it was part of this chapter but it makes sense to seperate the content... and this chapter's already long. So, the next installment should be soon!

Oh, and 'Otamay' was Ty's idea.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: The reason my half-brain still exists is because of one Tyson Foxflame! _(points)_ That's right! Her over there! She totally saved me while I was working on this and I love her to death! If she wasn't around, I would be completely braindead and probably never continue anything.

**Headfirst for Halos**  
by: nEo-cHaN

"Give me the keys."

"No."

"I said, give me the keys."

"And I said no."

Tai pinned me against my locker and attacked me with tickles, making me burst into laughter. I managed to keep the keys out of his reach, though, and he ceased his attack to stare me determinedly in the eyes.

"Give me the keys, Yama."

"No." A smile tugged at my lips.

"Yamaaaa..." Tai drew my name out.

"Taiiiii," I mocked.

Tai made a sudden movement and tried to grab the keys, but I quickly snatched my hand away. He playfully narrowed his eyes at me.

"Don't make me do it, Tai," I said, giggling and moving my hand towards the waist of my pants. "You know I will!"

Tai raised an eyebrow. "You think I won't go down there? Oh, I will, Yama." He gave me a wicked grin and lowered his voice. "And I know you'd enjoy that."

My face turned red and I opened my fist, dropping the keys into Tai's hand.

"Bastard."

Tai smirked.

I don't know why I stole his car keys in the first place- I think I wanted him to let me drive, although the last time I'd driven was to actually get my driver's license. Keeping them away from him had been a challenge, though, and I don't back down from challenges- especially with Tai.

"That's not fair, you know," I muttered as we walked to his car. "That was a cheap shot."

Tai laughed. "Whatever. You're just mad 'cause you lost." He stuck his tongue out at me.

About a week had passed, and Tai was using my crush on him (or whatever you wanted to call it) to his advantage. He also wasn't passing up any opportunity to bring it up or tease me about it. By this time, all of our "group" knew about it- which included Raian. He and I hadn't really talked to each other about it at all, but it was some sort of unspoken understanding that it wasn't a competition. Besides, I figured Raian wasn't a threat because, after all, I was Tai's best friend. I assumed he'd pick me over Raian- which sounded kind of bad but, really, why would he choose Raian over me?

That particular Monday, after Tai dropped me home (he said was going to play soccer with Raian and Dai or something), Hiro called me up and informed me that we had a gig set for that weekend. Therefore, the guys wanted to have band practice. I agreed and met up with the guys at Eri's house.

"So how's it going with Tai?" Shin asked after we'd played for a bit and were just sitting around. "Made any progress?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not trying to make any 'progress', Shin. What happens, happens. I knew what I was getting into when this whole thing started. Tai's straight, I know that. I'm not gonna try to change him."

"This, from you?" Shin mock-gasped. "What happened to the Yamato who got whatever guy he wanted?"

"This is my best friend. It's a bit different."

"How's he been taking it?" Hiro asked.

"Very well," I said dryly.

The guys and I hung out for a couple of hours after band practice, and I got home late in the evening. There were a few missed calls. I went in the shower first, then once I'd dried off and gotten dressed I went to check the calls. At that same time, though, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I picked up on the first ring.

"Hi."

I frowned. The person's voice was familiar, but it sounded funny.

"Wait... Raian, is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, hey." I laid down on my bed, getting comfortable. "Guess what?"

"Um... what?" Raian sounded distracted.

"My band got a gig!"

"Oh, cool... when is it?"

"Saturday. Can you come?"

"Yeah, probably."

"What's up?" I asked him. "You sound kinda weird."

He hesitated, then spoke. "Yeah, um... listen, there's something I have to tell you."

This didn't sound good. I frowned and sat up. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just..." he sighed. "Listen, I just thought you should know... Tai kissed me."

I was silent for a good, long minute. My mind was frozen, yet at the same time it was filled with conflicting thoughts. Tai couldn't have kissed Raian. Why would he? Tai didn't like Raian- he couldn't. He would've told me... wouldn't he?

"Matt?" Raian sounded concerned. "Are you there?"

I didn't answer for a moment. Tai was straight, he'd said it himself. So what the hell was he doing kissing Raian?

...and not me?

"Matt?" Raian asked again.

"Sorry." I finally spoke, trying to keep my voice normal. I inhaled deeply and let it out. "So... what happened?"

"Well, we were at the skating rink-"

"What?" I interrupted.

"For our date," Raian explained. "I know skating seems a bit ridiculous in June but-"

"Wait, **what**?" I tried to keep calm. "What do you mean, your date?"

There was a pause. "Um... you mean Tai didn't... tell you?"

"Tai told me he was going to play soccer with you and Dai."

"Oh." I could tell Raian was uncomfortable. "Well, um... Tai asked me on a date."

I pressed the backs of my palms into my eyes, taking another deep breath. _Keep breathing_, I told myself. _At least get the whole story._

"So what were you saying?" I asked Raian after a moment. "What happened?"

"Right, so... we were skating and we were having fun and everything, but he didn't make any moves on me or anything. So I figured we were just gonna be friends, right? So we finished skating and he drove me home and then, well... he kissed me."

"He just... kissed you? Just like that?"

"Yeah. I said bye to him and was about to get out of his car and then he kissed me."

"...what did you do?"

"Nothing. I was surprised. So I just got out of the car and went into my house."

There was silence. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't be mad at Raian; it wasn't his fault.

"Thanks," I finally said. "For telling me, I mean."

"No problem. Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." I stopped and then let out a bitter laugh. "Actually, no, I'm not," I said honestly, "but I don't really want to talk about it. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Yeah. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and just sat there on my bed. I still couldn't believe it. First of all, Tai had lied to me. Second, he'd chosen Raian over me. Third, Raian had told me before Tai! How could Tai let me find out like that? Was he even planning on telling me at all?

I considered going over to Tai's and confronting him right away. But, instead, I decided to just wait until the next morning when he came over. Maybe by then, I could piece together my jumbles of thoughts. After all, I wasn't thinking straight and, even though I was mad, I didn't want to do something I'd regret.

To try and gather my thoughts, I made a list of things I wanted to ask Tai about or discuss. A lot of points on my list were closely related or basically the same thing in different words. Eventually I put the list down and just went to sleep. Tai had better have a good explanation.

I mean, not that he couldn't kiss anyone he wanted. But, well... why the fuck would he kiss Raian if he supposedly didn't like him and was straight?

The morning couldn't come quick enough.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The morning did come quick enough, and my mood had changed completely; I didn't want to face Tai.

I knew Tai would be coming to my door to drive me to school, so I left my place early and walked the long way to school so that he would 1) be forced to leave without me because I wasn't going to be there and 2) he wouldn't see me walking on the main streets and pick me up off the side of the road.

Avoiding Tai would be tricky during first and last period, since we had those classes together. For first period, I lied to the teacher and said that I'd lost my contacts(he didn't need to know that I didn't wear any) and that I needed to sit at the front to see the board. Luckily Tai was late for class and didn't get the chance to ask me why I was sitting in a different seat. I could feel him staring at me for long periods during class, but looked straight ahead or at my desk and ignored him.

I hurried to my next class when the period end, relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about really avoiding him until last period. I already knew my plan for lunch; I would run to my locker, throw my things in, then leave the school and go for a walk or something.

I did this successfully, and then last period came. By changing quickly, I managed to escape Tai, but for how long? I stood in the gym nervously, watching each boy enter slowly.

Then Tai came out, and in a moment of desperation, I quickly went over to the teacher.

"Sir, I'm not feeling well," I lied. "Can I go to the nurse's office?"

He frowned and looked me over. My gym teacher is usually the last person who will ever let you go the nurse's office, because he thinks you're trying to skip out on gym. Which people usually are. But I guess he believed me, because he nodded his approval.

"Thank you, sir." I practically dashed out of the gym, making my way down the hall to the nurse's office and breathing a sigh of relief.

My teacher came to check to make sure I really was in the nurse's office, and seemed satisfied when he saw me there. I knew he wouldn't be checking again, so I left the nurse's office a few minutes before the bell rang so that I could get to my locker and leave before Tai got the chance to find me.

I opened my locker and threw in the things I didn't need, then retrieved the few things I actually would need and put them in my bag. I closed my locker and turned around, then let out a surprised squeak when I saw Tai standing in front of me.

"Coach let me out early." Tai leaned forward, pinning me to my locker and raising an eyebrow at me. "I think we need to talk."

"About what?"

"Why you've been avoiding me."

I didn't answer. The bell rang, but Tai barely seemed to notice the noise.

"Yama." Tai gave me a look. "Don't be stupid."

I narrowed my eyes.

"**I'm** being stupid? You're the one who claimed you were straight and then asked Raian out, you asshole!"

Tai's eyes widened in surprise. "Yama-"

I slapped him. Tai stepped back and I took that opportunity to grab my bag and begin almost running down the hall.

"Yama!" I heard Tai call after me, but I just increased my speed.

Instead of going home, I crossed the school field and took the path that led to a park nearby. The park was surrounded on two sides by a forest area and was always relatively abandoned. Once I was there I threw my bag down on the ground and sat down on one of the swings, taking a deep breath.

"Yama, we need to talk!"

I groaned aloud when I heard Tai's voice. I turned to see him approaching me and glared in his direction.

"I don't want to fucking talk to you, you asshole!"

Tai reached me and stood in front of the swing, shaking his head.

"I'm guessing Raian told you."

I got up from the swing and went to slap Tai again, but he grabbed my hand to stop me.

"Violence isn't solving anything."

"No, but it makes me feel a hell of a lot better," I snapped, then slapped him with my other hand.

Tai pulled me towards him roughly and at first I thought he was going to hit me, but then he kissed me instead. I froze for a moment before pulling away and, yet again, slapping him.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I exclaimed, voice rising in pitch.

"I don't know," Tai groaned, rubbing his cheek. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry... please, Yama, just... can we talk about this?"

"What is there to talk about?" I snapped. "You asked Raian out behind my back and kissed him!"

"I didn't tell you about it because I didn't want you to be upset."

"So you thought it'd be better to sneak around with him behind my back until you felt like telling me?"

"No! I was gonna tell you!"

"When?"

"I... I don't know, soon!" Tai shook his head. "Listen, the point is-"

"The point is," I interrupted, "that you fucking chose Raian over me."

"No I didn't!" Tai exclaimed.

"You kissed him!"

"I kissed him because I'm confused!"

"About what?"

"Everything!"

I let out a growl of frustration and shook my head, starting to walk away. However, Tai grabbed my arm and dragged me over to one of the park benches, pushing me down onto it firmly.

"Yama, if you want answers, you're gonna have to let me talk."

I sat and just glared into his eyes at first, but I knew he was right. I reluctantly nodded. "Then talk."

"Okay. First of all, I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. I don't like Raian."

"Then why the fuck did you kiss him?"

"I'm getting to that. Listen, I asked Raian out for a few reasons. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and, even though I knew there was nothing between us, Raian didn't. So I thought I should help him realize that."

"That still doesn't explain why you kissed him."

Tai shook his head. "You're fucking impossible. Look, Yama, I kissed him because I'm not sure about things right now. The thought of kissing another guy doesn't put me off, but kissing Raian did nothing for me. I didn't feel anything, and I'm pretty sure he didn't either. So that didn't really solve anything for me, but it was worth a try."

"You lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you."

"Yes you did! You told me you were going to play soccer with him and Dai!"

"Well, I didn't want you to freak out like you are now!"

I frowned, but it was sort of a valid point so I didn't say anything.

"So what now?" Tai asked me.

"Why did you kiss me?"

Tai looked caught off-guard. "What?"

"You kissed me. Don't fucking kiss me if you don't mean anything by it."

Tai sighed. "I do mean something by it, I just... I don't know exactly what."

There was silence between us for a few moments, then Tai spoke again.

"So... am I forgiven?"

My first instinct was to say no, but instead I said "I don't know" and got up. I picked up my bag and started down the path again. Tai didn't come after me this time.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

I had trouble sleeping that night, and decided that I wasn't going to school when I woke up on Wednesday. Luckily Tai had enough sense not to show up at my door that morning, and I managed to get some rest.

My anger had mostly dissolved by then, and I was more frustrated by the fact that Tai had kissed me for seemingly no reason. Did he think it was okay to just go around kissing people and explaining later?

I was sitting in the kitchen, having just finished a cup of coffee, when the doorbell rang. Looking at the clock, I saw that school had already let out. Which meant...

"Yama!" Tai called through the door. "Please, let me in? I wanna talk to you about something!"

I sighed. Knowing Tai wasn't going to stop until I let him it, I got up and made my way to the door, opening it and letting Tai inside.

"Where were you today?" Tai asked me.

"Where do you fucking think?" I replied dryly as I headed back into the kitchen.

Tai followed me after a moment, entering the kitchen and then speaking.

"I thought about what you said."

"I said a lot of things," I replied.

"Yeah, well... about kissing you. Why I did it, I mean."

I stopped trying to make myself look busy and stood in front of Tai, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh yeah? Why'd you do it?"

"Well... to... to show you..." Tai stopped and started again. "To help me figure out if I'm gay... or bi... or something."

I snorted. "What kind of lame excuse is that? Tai, why did you kiss me? Really."

Tai sighed. "I..." He shook his head. "I don't know." He moved forward, meeting my lips with his.

Instead of pushing him away, I responded. Tai's arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me up against him, deepening the kiss and sliding his tongue into my mouth. I gripped his shoulder with one hand, the other arm draping itself around his neck. Tai's hand moved up under my shirt, stroking my back, and I shivered slightly, leaning more into him. The kiss was growing more heated; it was almost as if we were trying to fuse together.

Tai had my shirt bunched up above my navel and his hand caressed the skin just above the place on my hips where my pants rested. I bit his lower lip lightly, pressing my body closer to his as blood began to rush down to my groin.

Suddenly Tai broke the kiss and pushed me away gently but firmly. He licked his lips, breathing heavily, and held my gaze. I bit my own lip, watching him expectantly. My heart was pounding in my ears.

He looked away, shaking his head. "I... fuck, I'm sorry, Yama."

Anger built up in me again.

"Saying you're sorry doesn't solve everything! I told you not to fucking kiss me unless you knew what you were doing!" I let out a cry of frustration and stomped over to the other end of the kitchen before whirling around again. "God, Tai, I'm fucking sick of your shit!"

"I'm sorry-"

"Shut up!" I grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a cookbook, and hurled it at his head. Tai ducked, narrowly avoiding it, and winced.

"Yama, come on, calm down-"

"If you want me to calm down, stop being a fucking idiot!" I felt a bit better and less angry after throwing the cookbook at him, and I waited for him to reply.

"Listen, I know I fucked up. I'm sorry. If I led you on, I didn't mean to. I don't know what I'm doing, Yama, you're right. All I know is that kissing you is... well, I like it. A lot. But I... I don't know."

"Well, figure it out! If you don't like me, fine. But make up your mind about it! And don't fucking kiss me like that, it's not helping!"

"I know," Tai groaned. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"Well, you should be," I muttered. I took a deep breath and let it out, then shook my head. "Are you done being an idiot?"

"I think so. Are you done throwing things at me?"

I couldn't help but smile a bit. "I think so."

Tai picked the book up off of the ground and placed it on the counter. There was a moment of silence.

Tai broke it. "Soo... should I go?"

"Probably."

Tai accepted my answer and nodded. "Okay."

I escorted Tai to the door and he paused just before he left.

"See you tomorrow morning?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Tai smiled and stepped out into the hall. "Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

I shut the door and locked it, then returned to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I began to take out some food when the cookbook on the counter caught my eye. A smile tugged at my lips and I shook my head.

Next time he did something like that, I'd make sure I didn't miss.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Thursday morning, Tai showed up earlier than usual at my door. I let him in and led him into my room, where I picked up my brush and resumed the task of styling my hair.

"Any cookbooks lying around?" Tai teased with a grin, sitting down on my bed.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Hey, you deserved it. You were being a jackass."

"No argument there." Tai was silent for about a minute, then spoke again. "I told you I'm sorry, right?"

"Mm-hm."

"Good. 'Cause I'm sorry."

"I know." I looked in the mirror and found that my hair was satisfactory, then turned to Tai. "Come here."

Tai looked confused, but got up and walked over to me. I wrapped my arms around him in a hug and he put his own arms around my waist to hug back.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"Official make-up hug," I answered.

Tai laughed.

In English that day, Raian pulled me aside to let me know that he didn't like Tai anymore- supposedly he didn't think there was enough chemistry between them. I thanked him for telling me and he asked if I'd worked things out with Tai. I told him that I had and he said he was glad.

The day passed by like any other normal day, which was relieving. I'd almost been prepared for another fight between Tai and I, but luckily everything ran smoothly and regularly between us.

On Friday after school, Tai and I went to the mall; I hadn't picked out an outfit for the show yet, and I wanted to see if anything jumped out at me. Despite his complaining, I actually found something to wear and we were on our way out of the mall when, out of the corner of my eye, a flash of green caught my eye.

I turned around and, upon confirming what I'd seen, called out, "Kiseki!"

Kiseki stopped and turned, then grinned when he saw me. "Yamato! Hi!"

I walked over to him, shaking my head. "Wow, what a coincidence. How are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

"Good... oh, you remember Tai, right?"

"Of course." Kiseki looked at Tai. "The eyebrow looks pretty healed."

Tai nodded.

"Hey, my band has a show tomorrow," I told Kiseki. "There's an afterparty, and some of the guys are bringing dates... you should come."

"I should," Kiseki agreed. "What time does it start?"

"I'll give you my number, you can call me. Do you have a pen?"

Kiseki nodded and produced a pen from his pocket. I took the pen, then took his hand and wrote my number neatly on it. He grinned at me and took back the pen (and his hand).

"I'll talk to you later, then."

"Definitely."

Kiseki said goodbye to me, gave Tai a little wave, and then continued on his path through the mall. I turned to Tai, who didn't look very pleased.

"What the fuck was that?"

I blinked. "Um... an invite to the afterparty?"

"You asked him out!" Tai exclaimed.

I shrugged. "Kind of. So?"

"So... so..."

"What, I'm not allowed to give a guy my number? You're not my keeper, Tai."

"I... you..."

I waited for Tai to form a coherent sentence, which didn't happen, then shrugged and began walking out of the mall. He followed, though I could feel his angry glare on me as we made our way to his car.

"Don't be such a jackass," I said, rolling my eyes as Tai pulled out of the parking lot wordlessly. "Other guys **are** allowed to talk to me, you know."

"Yeah, but you're not supposed to ask them out!"

"Why not?"

Tai didn't respond, scowling.

I wasn't sure if Kiseki was really going to call or not, but he did and I was glad. We made plans to meet after the show and managed to get a bit of flirting in before we hung up. I have to admit, I was partially-okay, mostly-going through with the date to spite Tai. But, also, Kiseki was a nice guy and I wouldn't mind going out with him.

Saturday seemed to come way too quickly. I'm always really nervous before a show and that one was no exception. After going over the song lineup several times and playing all of our songs in my head repeatedly, I began wandering around the place before we had to go on, jittery and anxious and not wanting to stay in one spot.

"Whoa, where're you going?"

Tai caught my elbow as I nearly walked right past him and gently maneuvered me towards him. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Doing okay?"

"Kinda." I ran a hand through my hair worriedly. "Do I look okay?"

Tai ran his eyes over me. I was wearing tight black pants with lots of zippers and chains on them and a black-and-grey long-sleeved shirt. Shin had declared that I looked "smoking", but he always has an opinion like that.

After a moment's observation, Tai nodded. "Yeah. Screw 'okay', you look hot."

I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks."

"I only speak the truth. And are you wearing **eyeliner**?" Tai raised en eyebrow.

"Mmhm. Got a problem with that?"

"Surprisingly, no. I never thought I'd say this, but... it looks hot." He shook his head. "Anyway, you're gonna do great so don't worry, okay?"

I nodded and he pulled me into a hug, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead. I responded by kissing him on the cheek and then waved at him before I disappeared into the crowd again.

As with all of the shows we've done, my nerves began dissolving once we started playing. You step out on stage and it's like a whole new place. I love it.

It was one of our best shows yet. We played amazingly, if I do say so myself, and everyone had a great time. I know this because everyone kept telling us so at the afterparty.

"You guys were fucking awesome!" someone said to me as they passed. I said thanks, but was more interested in the person I saw walking through the door at that moment.

Kiseki caught my eye and waved, grinning, and I quickly made my way over to him.

"Hi!" I greeted him. "Thanks for coming."

"I'm glad I did. You were great."

"Thanks."

"Hey, who's this?" Shin materialized out of nowhere and raised an eyebrow.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, and instead introduced them.

"Shin, this is my date, Kiseki. Kiseki, this is Shin."

They shook hands and Shin gave me a sly grin. I ignored it.

"Did you see the show?" Shin asked Kiseki.

Kiseki nodded. "You were the drummer, right?"

"Damn right!" Shin said proudly.

"Hey, great show!" someone said to Shin, and he turned around to talk to them. I took that opportunity to steer Kiseki in another direction.

Kiseki and I grabbed some drinks-people had already broken out the alcohol-and sat down in a quieter part of the room. He smiled at me and was about to say something when a voice called my name.

I looked up and saw Mimi making her way over. She had a huge grin on her face, and I refrained from rolling my eyes yet again.

"Hi, I'm Mimi!" she said brightly, smiling at Kiseki.

"Hi," Kiseki said, returning the smile. "I'm Kiseki, Matt's date."

"How cute!"

"Hey," Sora said, popping up from behind Mimi. "Great show, Matt!" She turned to Kiseki. "Hi, I'm Sora."

"I'm Kiseki."

"He's my date," I added, which made both the girls grin.

"We'll leave you two alone now," Mimi said. "Nice meeting you, Kiseki!"

He responded in a similar fashion and then they headed across the room, no doubt discussing what they thought of Kiseki.

"Sorry about that," I said with a smile.

"No problem. Being a date means being introduced to people."

Raian walked by me and flashed a smile, then noticed Kiseki and backtracked. First he commented that it had been a great show, then looked pointedly at Kiseki.

"This is my date," I said, "Kiseki."

"Hi," Raian said, and Kiseki said hello back. Raian discreetly shot me a look that gave me the feeling he was trying to say "Tai's not gonna like this". I shrugged in response, letting him know I didn't care.

"So," Kiseki began once Raian had left. "Tai... is he your best friend?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Have you two ever dated?"

I was surprised by the question. "What? No, why?"

"Oh, it's just that he gives off a sort of possessive vibe. The sort of possessive that an ex-boyfriend is." Kiseki suddenly shook his head. "Listen to me, trying to analyze your best friend. Ignore me, I'm sorry." He offered me a smile. "Let's talk about you instead."

Kiseki and I chatted easily, and time flew by. Usually I'd be getting drunk and partying like crazy from the start, but Kiseki was interesting and I liked talking to him.

I'd noticed Kiseki glancing at the dance floor every so often and I was about to ask him to dance, but he beat me to it. Standing up, he smiled and offered me his hand.

"Care to dance?"

I laughed and got up from where I sat, smiling. "I'd love to."

We made our way to where everyone was dancing and Kiseki tugged me close to him as a new song began. I moved towards him and started to dance to the music in a not-so-innocent way.

I believe that if you're gonna dance, you might as well go all out. Tai usually refuses to dance with me because he says it's too much like humping in public- which is, I believe, an exaggeration. I just like to have fun.

Luckily, Kiseki felt the same way. His hands were resting on my hips at first but they quickly slid down, giving my ass a not-so-subtle squeeze and pulling me against his body. I grinned as our bodies rubbed together and ground my hips against his, making him raise an eyebrow and smirk. Our dancing grew more intense and I was aware of a few people watching us (i.e. my friends, who were no doubt going to swarm me as soon as he left). This just fueled me even more.

Our bodies moved together in a heated dance of their own and I wondered briefly if I'd had more to drink than I thought. Dismissing this thought, a new one entered (_Oh, what the hell._) and I grabbed Kiseki's face, pressing my lips to his.

Kiseki responded immediately, licking my lips with his tongue to gain entrance. I allowed him and his tongue slid into my mouth to meet mine, moving in a way that made me murmur with pleasure. Wrapping an arm around his waist, I pressed us impossibly closer, increasing the level of intimacy to the point where it had long ago ceased to be appropriate.

All of this came to an abrupt end when Kiseki broke the kiss and loosened his hold on me to turn and look at someone who had tapped his shoulder. The next thing I knew, Kiseki was on the floor.

Everyone went dead silent. The music was still playing, but it suddenly seemed distant. I gaped at Kiseki, laying on the ground and holding his face, for a long moment, then my head snapped up to see who had punched him.

Narrowed, angry chocolate-coloured eyes bore into mine. I was too shocked to say anything and just stood there, staring. I couldn't believe it.

Tai ignored the huge crowd of people staring at us and grabbed my wrist, dragging me along with him to an unknown location. It took a few moments for me to snap out of my daze, but I did and yanked my wrist out of Tai's hand. He turned to face me and I slapped him. Everyone was still watching and I heard someone mutter "Ouch".

"What the fuck are you doing?" My voice was dangerously low.

"What the fuck are **you** doing?" Tai retorted, voice loud and angry. His eyes flashed. "I come to find you to talk and you're grinding up against some guy with his tongue down your throat?"

"Who do you think you are, Tai?" My voice was rising now, too. "I can dance with whoever the fuck I want, and however the fuck I like!"

"That wasn't dancing," Tai replied furiously. "A few minutes more and you two would've been fucking right there and then."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Are you calling me a slut?"

Tai didn't respond. There was so much tension in the air that I could swear everyone was holding their breath.

"Listen," I said angrily, "You had no right to do that. Kiseki didn't do anything. It's not his fault you have control issues and can't leave me alone for one fucking second!"

I think the attention we were receiving began to make Tai uncomfortable because his eyes flickered around the room and then he took my wrist, gentler this time.

"Can we talk about this somewhere else?" he asked in a low tone.

Wanting to get it over with, I nodded. We'd created quite a scene, and people moved out of our way as Tai led me through the crowd and out of the place. I wanted to stay and see if Kiseki was alright, but I knew Tai and I needed to have a serious talk immediately.

Tai led me out one of the side doors and we ended up on a deserted sidestreet. He let go of my wrist and we stood facing each other. I spoke first.

"What's your problem?" I said, breaking the silence. I was going to go on, but instead waited for Tai to reply first.

He'd cooled down a bit, but he still looked pissed off. "My problem is that you decided it would be okay to..." He searched for a word. "...to **whore** yourself like that, in the middle of-"

"What the fuck did you just say?"

"I don't mean that you're a whore-"

"Tai, shut up."

He did.

"Now, listen to me," I said. "I was having fun and dancing how I always dance, with someone I found to be a lot of fun. You had no right to punch him just because you're pissed off that he's my date!"

"He was touching you," Tai muttered.

"So? I **wanted** him to touch me! You act like you have this fucking claim over me, Tai! News flash: you don't! You can't walk around getting pissed off at people for 'stealing me away' when you never had me in the first place! You can't run my fucking life for me, or monitor who I get acquainted with! That's not how it works. You can't do these things if you don't even know what you fucking want."

Tai looked miserable now, and he ran a hand over his face. "Yama... I..." he trailed off and looked away, letting out a heavy sigh.

Neither of us spoke for about a minute. I eventually decided to say something, having calmed down somewhat.

"Being jealous isn't an excuse for punching him. The way you're acting is just... ridiculous. You know I would dance like that with you in a heartbeat, so it's not like I was giving him anything I would've deprived you of. The difference is that he asked, Tai. He wasn't afraid to tell me what he wanted."

The silence that rang out after my words seemed to emphasize them. Tai looked up, and he looked torn between a large range of emotions. Shaking his head, he breathed a sigh and then finally spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Well, that was a start.

"You're right. I shouldn't have done that. I just... I got really mad when I saw him dancing like that with you. In my head, it's like... it's like you're mine, and no one's allowed to touch you but me. And... well, that's the way I want it to be. I don't want other people touching you. I want to have you to myself." Tai's eyes locked with mine, and his voice lowered a bit. "I want you, Yama."

Despite how angry I was with him at the moment, my heart did a little flip. The two of us stood there for a long moment, just looking at each other, until Tai reached out and took my hand.

"Come with me to my car...?"

I hesitated, then nodded. "Just let me say bye to Kiseki first."

When Tai and I re-entered the place, everyone was eyeing us, no doubt trying to guess what had happened. I wondered at first if Kiseki had already left, then saw him by the door.

"Kiseki!" I called out.

He turned, and gave a little smile when he saw me. Sora, Mimi, Raian, and Hiro were standing with him; all of their gazes fixed on Tai, who was following close behind me.

Reaching Kiseki, I took a look at his face, which was already swollen and starting to bruise. I nudged Tai in the side and he muttered an apology obediently. Kiseki accepted it, then I also apologized for Tai's behaviour.

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. It was worth it," Kiseki added with a little grin. "You're a great dancer."

I laughed. The two of us said goodbye and hugged, then he and Raian departed (Raian had volunteered to drive him home).

As soon as they left, Mimi turned to Tai and I knew she was about to lecture him, but I shook my head at her. She frowned, but closed her mouth and didn't say anything.

"We're gonna go," I told them. "See you guys later."

They said goodbye, giving me looks that clearly showed they were expecting to hear from me later on.

Tai and I walked in silence to where he had parked his car. We had just gotten in and settled into the seats when Tai leaned over and kissed me.

The kiss was filled with intensity and passion, and I responded without a second thought. Tai managed to maneuver himself from the driver's seat to the passenger seat, which placed him half on-top of me as we kissed, heat growing rapidly between us.

I pushed Tai away after a minute, and he gave me a confused look. Staring straight into his eyes, I spoke.

"Why did you kiss me?"

He barely hesitated this time.

"Because I like you a fucking hell of a lot and you drive me crazy."

Tai and I moved to the back seat, which sounds terribly cliché, but whatever; it provided more room and comfort for the task at hand. Tai leaned back against the car door and pulled me onto his lap. We kissed intensely, his hand sliding up the back of my shirt as my own hands latched themselves in his hair, using the leverage to deepen the kiss even more. His tongue explored my mouth, meeting my own tongue in the process and battling with it briefly.

Tai began to tug my shirt up and I co-operated, allowing him to pull my shirt over my head. He tossed it somewhere behind me and I helped him rid of his own shirt, then leaned back against him, our lips meeting eagerly.

The friction of our bare skin rubbing together increased the heat between us greatly. I ran my hands over Tai's chest, marveling at the difference between our bodies. Tai's was much more muscular, whereas mine was just plain thin and lightly toned. And, of course, there was the difference in our skin tones- Tai's skin tanned and mine more pale. The differences just seemed to make us fit together even more perfectly. I snapped out of these thoughts to focus on Tai's hands, which were traveling up and down my back, dipping lower with each stroke. He finally reached my ass, groping and squeezing as I correspondingly pushed my hips into his. Tai moaned lightly, shifting so that I could feel his growing erection press against my thigh.

We parted lips, panting, and I bent down to kiss Tai's neck. As I sucked gently at the soft skin, Tai moved his hand between us, rubbing my thigh sensually and then cupping my arousal. He squeezed it lightly and I let my teeth graze against his skin, a shiver of pleasure creeping up my spine.

Tai's hands moved to unfasten my pants, working fast at the task. He got my pants open quickly and had just begun to pull them down when a knock on the window made both of us jump.

My face began to turn red very rapidly when I realized that the windows in Tai's car were very clear, and I looked up to see Daisuke grinning in at us. With a groan, I moved myself off of Tai, doing up my pants and then pulling my shirt back on.

Tai grabbed me and pulled me in for one last short kiss, then gave me a quick caress and murmured, "We'll finish this later."

I nodded and Tai put his own shirt back on, then we climbed out of the car.

Daisuke was shaking his head, grinning widely.

"Damn!" he exclaimed. "Teach me how to do **that**!"

Tai chuckled and ruffled Dai's hair. "You'll learn."

"I'm sure you two are well on your way," I added, smirking at TK, who blushed.

"Well, unlike some people, we have other places to do it than the back seat of a car," he retorted.

"Shut up," I muttered, my face growing hot.

"Yama and I are going back to my place," Tai said. "You guys want a drive home?"

They did, so we dropped them both off at their respective houses and then went to Tai's apartment.

"You know," I said teasingly as Tai and I walked down the hall to his door, "I don't remember saying I was coming to your place. You shouldn't make assumptions."

"Alright, then," Tai responded in the same playful voice. He opened the door and let us in. "I guess I shouldn't assume that you want to engage in hot, steamy sex, then."

"Not with you." I stuck my tongue out playfully.

Tai chuckled, then laced his fingers through mine and gently tugged me in the direction of the hallway. "C'mon."

We retreated to Tai's bedroom, where I only had enough time to sit on the bed before Tai shut the door and then pounced on me, pushing me into a laying position before crawling on top of me and pressing our lips together. I responded for a short while, then pushed him away a bit when his hand began to creep down to the front of my pants.

"Wait, Tai," I protested. "I don't wanna do this so soon."

"Do what?" Tai kissed my collarbone, stroking my side with his fingers.

"Have sex."

There was a moment of silence and stillness, then Tai chuckled and shook his head at me with a little grin of amusement.

"I wasn't even gonna try, Yama. I know you're not easy."

My face heated up, mostly due to embarrassment from assuming Tai was trying to fuck me. He grinned down at me and then brought me into a kiss, sucking on my lower lip lightly before pulling away. One of his hands began stroking my thigh.

"What do you wanna do?" Tai asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um... I dunno."

"Let me rephrase that. What will you let me do?" Tai grinned.

To tell the truth, I wanted to wait until the next day to go any further; our minds were both still clouded with alcohol, however small an amount, and I still wanted to talk to Tai about some things before we got involved.

Tai's mouth sucking on my neck and his palm rubbing against my groin snapped me out of my thoughts. He kissed his way up to my lips and then spoke again, his voice low.

"What about this?" Tai's hand moved pointedly in my lower area, making me let out a little moan. "Is this okay?"

"Tai..." It was becoming harder to resist, but I shook my head. "Wait until tomorrow, okay?"

Tai let out an exaggerated sigh, but removed his hand. "Fine." He pressed a brief kiss to my lips, then got off of me.

As we laid in bed that night, Tai's arms wrapped securely around my waist, I thought back to what had happened at the afterparty. I felt guilty about what had happened to Kiseki, and I made a mental note to call him and apologize again. I couldn't help feeling partially responsible for Tai's actions; I do admit, my dancing had been more extreme than usual.

But at least Tai had finally made up his mind. I had the feeling I probably should've been harder on him, but I think I was just too relieved that I finally knew if he liked me or not.

I snuggled into Tai's warmth and sighed. In the morning, we'd set things straight once and for all.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

*

A/N: And, of course, credit for the character Kiseki goes to Tyson. I merely borrowed him from her fic, Black Rose... which you should go read now since the last chapter & epilogue are up!


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